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THE  MEMOIRS  OF 
ADMIRAL  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 


THE  MEMOIRS  OF 

ADMIRAL  LORD 
CHARLES  BERESFORD 

WRITTEN    BY    HIMSELF 


WITH   TWENTY-TWO   ILLUSTRATIONS 


VOL.   I 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  &  COMPANY 
1914 


TO 
MY  BROTHER   OFFICERS 

OF  THE 

ROYAL  NAVY 


PREFACE 

THIS  work  is  a  record  of  my  life  from  the 
year  1859,  when  I  entered  the  Royal  Navy, 
to  the  year  1909,  when  I  hauled  down  my 
flag  and  came  on  shore. 

For  the  Introduction  and  the  Notes,  which 
have  been  written  in  order  to  amplify  the  personal 
narrative  and  to  connect  it  with  the  historical 
events  of  the  period,  Mr.  L.  Cope  Cornford  is 
responsible. 

I  have  dedicated  the  book  to  my  brother  officers 
of  the  Royal  Navy. 

As  luck  would  have  it,  my  career  has  been  of 
a  singularly  varied  character.  And  my  hope  is  that, 
in  reading  its  story,  boys  and  girls,  as  well  as  their 
elders,  may  find  pleasure. 

CHARLES  BERESFORD 
Admiral 


i  GREAT  CUMBERLAND  PLACE,  W. 
June  1914 


vii 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE'         ......     xiii 

CHAP. 

I.  I  SEE  THE  FLEET     .  .          .          .          .  i 

II.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  SERVICE          ....       5 

III.  THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  .          .          .          .11 

IV.  THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY  .          .          .          .41 
V.  THE  MIDSHIPMAN  OF  1864  .          .          .          .  51 

VI.  STRICT  SERVICE        .          i          .          .          »          .     61 

VII.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA— 

I.  To  THE  ANTIPODES  .  .  .  -73 

VIII.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  (continued)— 

II.  MY  Two  FAITHFUL  SERVANTS     .  .  .82 

IX.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  (continued)— 

III.  TAHITI  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS     .  .      87 

X.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  (continued)— 

IV.  OLD  JAPAN.    NOTE  ,          .          .          .90 

XI.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  (continued)— 

V.  WITH  THE  DUKE  IN  JAPAN         .  .  .100 

XII.  THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  (continued)— 

VI.  THE  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE  .          .          .102 

XIII.  FLAG- LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH  .          .          .          .in 

XIV.  POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1873-80  AND  POSTSCRIPT.    NOTE    122 


x         MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XV.  AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS      .          .128 

XVI.  MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD,  AND  COMMANDER,  ROYAL 

NAVY  .          .  .          .          .          .          .138 

XVII.  WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA     .          .          .          .    157 

XVIII.  THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR— 

I.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE.    NOTE         .    170 

XIX.  THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  (continued)— 

II.  THE  BOMBARDMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA          .    185 

XX.  THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  (continued)— 

III.  CHIEF  OF  POLICE         .          .          .          .190 

XXI.  THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  (continued)— 

IV.  GARRISON  WORK      .  ;»    .       .  .  .201 

XXII.  PASSING  THROUGH  EGYPT       ....  *       .          .          .209 

XXIII.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5— 

I.  SUMMARY  OF  EVENTS.    NOTE          .  .211 

XXIV.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  (continued}— 

II.  HOW   WE   BROUGHT  THE  BOATS  THROUGH 

THE  GREAT  GATE  .          .          .          .221 

XXV.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  (continued}— 

III.  UP  THE  CATARACTS  AND  ACROSS  THE  DESERT    240 

XXVI.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  (continued)— 

IV.  THE  FIRST  MARCH  OF  THE  DESERT  COLUMN 

NOTE  .....    247 

XXVII.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  (continued}— 

V.  THE  DESERT  MARCH  OF  THE  FORLORN  HOPE    251 

XXVIII.  THE  SOUDAN  WAR  (continued)— 

VI.  THE  FIGHT  AT  ABU  KLEA  262 


(The  "Notes"  are  by  L,  COPE  CORNFORD) 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  AUTHOR  ......  Frontispiece 

From  a  photograph  by  Heath 

FACING  PAGE 

CURRAGHMORE  .......      viii 

From  a  photograph  by  G.  D.  Croker 

SIR   JOHN    DE   LA   POER    BERESFORD,   4TH    MARQUESS    OF 

WATERFORD       .......  xviii 

CHRISTINA,  MARCHIONESS  OF  WATERFORD        .          .          .  xviii 

From  paintings  at  Curraghmore 

THE  AUTHOR  AS  NAVAL  CADET    .....       6 

From  a  photograph 

H.M.S.  MARLBOROUGH,  1861          .  .  .  .  .12 

From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  the  Author 

THE  OFFICERS  OF  H.M.S.  SUTLJSJ,  1865.  .  .  .64 

From  a  photograph 

H.R.H.  THE  DUKE  OF  EDINBURGH         .  .  .  .74 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Russell  &  Sons 

PIETER  BOTH  MOUNTAIN,  MAURITIUS     ....    104 

From  a  photograph 

THE  AUTHOR  AS  LIEUTENANT       .          .          .          .          .114 

From  a  photograph 

THE  AUTHOR  ;ET.  27          .          .          .          .        „          .130 

From  a  photograph 


xii       MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

FACING    PAGE 

LADY  CHARLES  BERESFORD          .          .          .          .          .150 

From  a  photograph 

THE  BOMBARDMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA,  IITH  JULY  1882  .    186 

From  a  chart  drawn  by  the  Author  at  the  time 

ON  BOARD  H.M.S.  CONDOR,  IITH  JULY  1882    .          .          .188 

From  a  drawing  by  Frederic  Villiers 

PROVOST  -  MARSHAL   AND    CHIEF   OF    POLICE,   ALEXANDRIA, 

JULY  1882          .  .  .  .  .          .      192 

From  a  drawing  by  Frederic  Villiers 

THE  AUTHOR'S  METHOD  OF  HAULING  BOATS  THROUGH  THE 

BAB-EL-KEBIR    .......    230 

After  a  drawing  made  on  the  spot  by  the  Author 

THE  NILE  FROM  WADY  HALFA  TO  KHARTOUM  .          .    250 

(Design  of  Cover  by  HAROLD  WYLLIB) 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE 

THE  HOUSE  OF  BERESFORD 

LORD  Charles  William  de  la  Poer  Beresford,  born  in 
1846,  was  the  second  of  five  brothers,  sons  of  Sir 
John  de  la  Poer  Beresford,  fourth  Marquess  of  Water- 
ford.  Lord  Charles's  elder  brother,  Sir  John  Henry  de  la 
Poer  Beresford  (to  give  him  his  full  title),  Earl  and  Viscount 
of  Tyrone,  Baron  de  la  Poer  of  Curraghmore  in  the  county 
of  Waterford,  and  Baron  Beresford  of  Beresford  in  the 
county  of  Cavan,  in  the  Peerage  of  Ireland,  and  Baron 
Tyrone  of  Haver  ford  west  in  the  county  of  Pembroke,  in 
the  Peerage  of  Great  Britain,  Knight  of  the  Most  Illustrious 
Order  of  St.  Patrick,  succeeded  to  these  titles  in  1866.  .Sir 
John  joined  the  ist  Life  Guards.  He  died  in  1895,  a°d 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  (nephew  to  Lord  Charles),  as 
presently  to  be  noted. 

Of  the  other  three  brothers,  Lord  William  de  la  Poer 
joined  the  9th  Lancers  and  became  Military  Secretary  to 
five  successive  Viceroys  of  India,  was  a  patron  of  the  Turf, 
and  died  in  1900;  Lord  Marcus  de  la  Poer  joined  the  /th 
Hussars,  took  charge  of  the  King's  racehorses,  an  office 
which  he  still  fulfils,  and  was  appointed  Extra  Equerry  to 
King  George;  Lord  Delaval  James  de  la  Poer  (sixteen 
years  younger  than  Lord  Charles)  ranched  in  North  America 
and  was  killed  in  a  railway  accident  in  1906. 

The  five  brothers  were  keen  sportsmen,  hard  riders,  men 
of  their  hands,  high-couraged,  adventurous,  talented  in 
affairs,  winning  friendship  and  affection  wherever  they  went. 


xiv       MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Lord  John-Henry,  fifth  Marquess,  the  eldest  brother,  in- 
herited the  family  tradition  of  good  landlordship.  There 
was  never  any  oppression  of  tenants  on  the  Waterford 
estate.  In  the  House  of  Lords  and  in  the  country,  Lord 
Waterford  took  a  strenuous  part  in  the  troubled  and  com- 
plex issues  of  Irish  politics ;  although  during  the  last  years 
of  his  life  he  was  crippled  and  helpless,  the  result  of  an 
accident  which  befell  him  in  the  hunting  field.  Lord  William 
won  the  V.C.  by  an  act  of  cool  and  audacious  gallantry  in 
the  Zulu  war  of  1879;  renowned  for  reckless  hardihood, 
there  was  hardly  a  bone  in  his  body  which  he  had  not 
broken ;  and  it  is  probable  that  his  injuries,  diminishing  his 
powers  of  resistance,  caused  him  to  succumb  to  his  last 
illness.  Lord  Charles  has  broken  his  chest-bone, — a  piece 
of  which  was  cut  out  in  his  boyhood,  leaving  a  cavity, — 
pelvis,  right  leg,  right  hand,  foot,  five  ribs,  one  collar-bone 
three  times,  the  other  once,  his  nose  three  times ;  but  owing 
to  his  extraordinary  physique  and  strict  regimen,  he  is 
younger  and  stronger  at  the  time  of  writing  than  most  men 
of  half  his  age. 

The  family  home  of  the  five  brothers  was  Curraghmore, 
a  noble  estate  lying  some  twelve  miles  west  of  Waterford. 
The  great  house  stands  in  a  cup  of  the  hills,  whose  slopes 
are  clothed  with  woods  of  oak,  the  primaeval  forest  of 
Ireland.  The  oak  woods  adjoining  the  house  were  planted 
with  the  design  of  supplying  timber  to  the  Royal  Navy. 
Built  foursquare,  like  most  houses  in  Ireland,  the  mansion 
faces  upon  a  vast  gravelled  quadrangle,  closed  in  on  left 
and  right  by  the  long  ranges  of  stables.  Beyond  the  lawns 
of  the  terraced  garden,  beyond  the  hanging  woods,  the  bony 
shoulders  of  the  mountains  of  Comeragh  hunch  upon  the 
changing  sky;  nearer  hand,  darkens  the  lone  hill  of 
Croughaun ;  and  day  and  night  the  noise  of  running  waters, 
the  voice  of  the  Clodagh  River,  flowing  through  tawny 
shallow  and  sombre  pool,  breaking  white-maned  upon  rock 
and  fall,  rises  upon  the  quiet  air.  Looking  westward  from 
the  bare  summit  of  the  hill  above  the  deer-park,  you  shall 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xv 

view  the  rich  valley  parcelled  into  garden  and  farm  and 
paddock,  which  are  set  among  deep  groves;  in  the  midst, 
flanked  by  a  gleam  of  water,  the  house  darkens  upon  the 
westering  sunlight;  and  beyond,  the  sparkling  landscape 
fades  into  the  profound  and  aerial  blue  of  the  mountain 
wall.  Eastward,  the  rounded  bosses  of  the  forest  clothe 
the  hills ;  and  in  the  valley's  gentle  opening,  the  river  Suir, 
like  a  scimitar  laid  on  cloth  of  tapestry,  glimmers  dark  and 
bright  upon  the  plain,  which,  studded  with  woods  and 
dotted  with  white  specks  of  villages,  stretches  to  where  the 
dim  sea-line  merges  in  the  sky. 

Over  yonder,  cloven  through  the  heart  of  the  ancient 
woods,  a  green  drive  rises  to  the  skyline,  bordered  on 
either  side  by  rhododendrons,  like  huge  ropes  of  jewels, 
three  miles  long.  In  the  forest  there  is  silence.  Few  birds  or 
none  nest  in  that  deep  labyrinth  of  silver-barked  and  shaggy 
trees,  rooted  for  centuries  in  the  mould  of  their  own  peren- 
nial decay.  The  martin-cat  is  lord  of  that  hoary  solitude. 
As  a  boy,  Lord  Charles  trapped  the  martin-cats,  and 
presented  his  mother  with  a  muff  made  from  their  skins. 

High  on  the  hill  rising  to  the  north  of  the  house  of 
Curraghmore,  set  in  a  grove  of  beeches  and  enclosed  within 
a  wall,  the  last  resting-place  of  the  Beresfords  opens  upon 
a  great  and  shining  prospect  of  wood  and  mountain.  Here 
is  a  wide  and  broad  stone  platform,  like  an  ancient  altar, 
the  hue  of  rusty  iron,  compact  of  the  granite  slabs  whereon 
the  names  of  the  dead  are  graven.  On  three  sides  it  is 
walled  with  the  tall  silver  stems  of  beeches,  whose  branches 
high  overhead  interlace  in  a  green  canopy. 

Hard  by  stands  the  private  chapel,  once  the  parish 
church  of  Clonegam,  a  bleak  and  an  unfeatured  edifice. 
Within,  there  reclines  the  bronze  effigy  of  the  third 
Marquess,  he  of  the  aquiline  profile  and  the  full  beard,  who 
broke  his  neck  out  hunting  in  1859.  Opposite  to  him  lies 
the  white  marble  figure,  urbane  and  majestic,  of  Lord  John, 
his  successor,  father  of  Lord  Charles  Beresford.  In  the 
south  wall  of  the  chancel,  in  an  arched  recess  cut  out  of  the 


xvi       MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

thickness  of  the  wall,  the  white  light  falls  from  an  unseen 
opening  above  upon  the  sculptured  figure  of  a  lady,  sleeping 
recumbent,  and  beside  her  nestles  the  tiny  form  of  her 
child.  She  was  the  first  wife  of  the  fifth  Marquess,  and 
she  died  in  childbirth.  Near  by  the  private  chapel,  high 
uplifted  on  the  bare  shoulder  of  the  hill,  stands  a  round 
tower,  a  mark  for  leagues,  the  monument  set  up  to  the 
memory  of  the  little  boy,  Marcus,  Lord  le  Poer,  heir  to  Lord 
Tyrone,  afterwards  first  Marquess.  He  died  from  the 
effects  of  a  fall  from  his  pony,  the  accident  occurring  when 
he  was  jumping  hurdles  just  outside  the  great  courtyard  of 
the  house.  His  portrait,  painted  by  Gainsborough,  hangs 
in  the  drawing-room.  It  is  a  noble  head,  done  with  Gains- 
borough's inimitable  delicacy.  The  lad's  blue  eyes  gaze 
frankly  out  of  the  picture;  his  fair  hair  curls  upon  his 
shoulders ;  his  coat  is  scarlet,  with  the  open  falling  collar  of 
the  time ;  the  face  is  of  a  singular  beauty. 

Near  by,  in  the  centre  of  the  wall,  hangs  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds's  portrait  of  Sir  Francis  Delaval,  K.B.  A  tre- 
mendous figure,  Sir  Francis,  posed  in  a  commanding  attitude 
upon  a  hillside,  right  arm  extended,  grasping  a  musket 
with  fixed  bayonet,  and  clad  in  a  rich  suit  of  claret  colour 
and  cocked  hat.  He  was  the  uncle  of  the  wife  of  the  second 
Marquess  of  Waterford.  By  reason  of  that  alliance,  many 
of  the  Delaval  family  pictures  came  to  Curraghmore. 

Here  is  Lord  Delaval  himself,  who  died  in  1808,  a  noble- 
man of  a  somewhat  rugged  and  domineering  countenance. 
Here  is  the  first  Marquess  of  Waterford,  with  a  long  hooked 
nose ;  he  is  thin-lipped,  narrow-eyed  (it  seems  that  he  had 
a  squint),  wearing  the  ribbon  and  star  of  a  Knight  of  St. 
Patrick.  Henry,  second  Marquess,  was  painted  by  Sir 
Thomas  Lawrence ;  a  handsome  head,  crowned  with  a  mass 
of  fine  light  hair.  In  the  hall  hangs  the  portrait  of  the 
third  Marquess ;  he  whose  bronze  effigy  lies  in  the  chapel. 
He  is  reading.  With  his  pale  and  finely  cast  features,  his 
thick  brown  hair  and  beard,  he  might  have  been  (but  was 
not)  an  ascetic  student.  He  married  the  Hon.  Louisa 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xvii 

Stuart,  second  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Charles,  Lord 
Stuart  de  Rothesay.  The  Marchioness  was  a  lady  of  taste, 
and  was  considered  the  most  talented  amateur  painter  of 
her  day.  She  laid  out  anew  the  gardens,  where  heretofore 
the  horses  used  to  graze  close  to  the  house,  took  great 
interest  in  the  improvement  of  the  mansion  itself,  designed 
the  Cawnpore  Memorial,  designed  Ford  village,  formerly 
the  property  of  the  Delavals  in  Northumberland,  and 
achieved  a  series  of  cartoons  representing  religious  subjects, 
which  adorn  the  walls  of  the  school  at  Ford. 

These  and  many  other  ancestral  portraits  gaze  from  the 
walls  of  gallery  and  hall  and  chamber,  in  the  great  house 
of  Curraghmore.  Each  generation  as  it  grew  up  has  traced 
in  them  its  own  lineaments  fore-ordained,  and  has  marked 
the  miracle  of  heredity  repeated  again  and  again,  from  Sir 
Tristram  Beresford,  darkling  in  full  armour,  through  the 
masterful  Katherine  le  Poer  and  the  beautiful  Susanna 
Carpenter,  whose  mother  was  a  Delaval,  to  the  penultimate 
head  of  the  house  of  De  la  Poer  Beresford. 

The  entrance  hall  of  the  mansion  of  Curraghmore  is  the 
ancient  keep,  which  was  built  by  the  De  la  Poers  in  the 
late  twelfth  or  early  thirteenth  century,  foursquare,  the  walls 
ten  feet  thick.  The  rest  of  the  house  is  eighteenth  century. 
The  original  edifice  is  briefly  described  in  The  Antient  and 
Present  State  of  the  County  and  City  of  Waterford,  by 
Charles  Smith,  published  in  Dublin  in  1740,  and  in  The 
History ',  Topography  and  Antiquities  of  the  County  and  City 
of  Waterford,  by  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Ryland,  published  by 
Murray  in  1824.  Sir  Marcus,  first  Earl  of  Tyrone,  and  his 
son,  afterwards  first  Marquess  of  Waterford,  made  consider- 
able additions,  which,  according  to  the  date  inscribed  upon 
the  lead  work,  were  completed  in  1771.  From  the  old  keep, 
transformed  into  an  eighteenth-century  entrance  hall,  a 
flight  of  steps  leads  to  the  inner  hall,  whence  a  wide  stair- 
case rises,  following  the  walls,  and  out  of  which  open  the 
reception  rooms.  These  face  upon  lawn  and  fountain  and 
terrace.  Over  the  entrance  door  are  carved  the  family  coat ; 
b 


xviii     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

and  the  crest  of  the  De  la  Poers,  a  stag  couchant  bearing  a 
cross  upon  his  forehead,  crowns  the  parapet.  Upon  the 
garden  front  are  sculptured  the  Beresford  shield  and  their 
crest,  "a  dragon's  head  erased,  the  neck  pierced  with  a 
tilting  spear,  and  holding  the  point  broken  off  in  the  mouth." 
Motto,  Nil  nisi  cruce, 

Such  was  the  home  of  the  five  brothers,  when  their 
father,  Lord  John  de  la  Poer  Beresford,  in  holy  orders, 
succeeded  his  brother  in  1859.  Lord  Charles  Beresford, 
who  had  been  for  some  years  at  school  in  England,  joined 
the  Navy  in  that  year.  He  came  to  Curraghmore  in  his 
brief  and  widely  spaced  intervals  of  leave,  while  his  brothers 
came  home  more  frequently  during  their  vacations.  In 
those  days,  the  stables  were  filled  with  horses,  the  house 
was  populous  with  guests ;  and  the  great  courtyard  in  front 
of  the  house,  now  silent,  resounded  with  the  cheery  bustle 
of  a  jovial  company  coming  and  going.  All  winter  the 
house  was  thronged;  there  was  hunting  six  days  in  the 
week;  and  more  than  a  hundred  horses  were  stabled  at 
Curraghmore.  Lord  Charles  Beresford  has  told  how  that 
many  a  time,  when,  as  a  midshipman,  he  was  humping  beef 
into  the  blood-boats  for  the  Fleet,  did  he  think  not  without 
envy  upon  his  brothers,  each  with  his  two  or  three  hunters, 
riding  to  hounds  at  Curraghmore. 

The  house  of  Beresford  derives  from  the  "very  old 
and  eminent  English  family  of  Beresford  of  Beresford,  in 
the  county  of  Stafford,"  and  from  the  De  la  Poers,  an 
ancient  Breton  family,  and  their  quarterings  include  the 
noble  houses  of  Hamilton,  Monck,  Carpenter,  Plantagenet, 
Castile  and  Leon,  Mortimer,  De  Burgh,  Holland,  Wake, 
Nevill,  Beauchamp,  Delaval,  Blake.  The  Beresfords  repre- 
sented the  English  plantation  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  until 
the  marriage  was  made  which  united  them  with  De  la  Poers, 
who  were  of  the  first  English  plantation  in  the  South. 

Tristram  Beresford  came  into  Ireland  in  the  reign  of 
James  I.,  as  manager  of  the  corporation  of  Londoners, 
known  as  "  The  Society  of  the  New  Plantation  in  Ulster." 


ip 

-  S  -n, 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xix 

The  first  Tristram  settled  at  Coleraine,  in  county  London- 
derry. His  son,  Sir  Tristram,  first  Baronet,  in  common 
with  the  first  created  Baronets  of  Ulster,  bore  on  his  shield 
the  open  red  hand  of  Ulster,  hitherto  borne  by  the  forfeited 
O'Neils.  Sir  Randal,  second  Baronet,  sat  in  the  first 
Parliament  held  after  the  Restoration. 

Sir  Tristram,  his  son,  commanded  a  regiment  of  foot 
against  King  James  II.,  and  was  attainted.  He  it  was  who 
married  the  Hon.  Nicola  Sophia  Hamilton,  concerning 
whom  a  legend  of  the  supernatural  is  current.  Briefly,  it 
is  that  the  friend  of  her  early  years,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone, 
visited  her  after  his  death,  according  to  agreement,  and,  to 
prove  the  reality  of  his  appearance,  touched  her  wrist, 
shrivelling  nerve  and  sinew,  so  that  ever  afterwards  she  wore 
a  bracelet  of  black  velvet.  A  picture,  supposed  to  represent 
this  lady,  hangs  in  Curraghmore.  It  must  be  said  that  the 
evidence  of  it  extant  is  so  highly  dubious,  that  the  story  is 
not  worth  telling  in  detail. 

Sir  Tristram  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Sir  Marcus, 
fourth  Baronet,  who  married  the  Lady  Katherine  de  la  Poer, 
who  was  Baroness  in  her  own  right.  Thus  the  two  houses 
were  conjoined.  Lady  Katherine  was  the  only  daughter 
and  heiress  of  James,  third  and  last  Earl  of  Tyrone.  She 
was  allowed  the  Barony  of  La  Poer  in  fee  by  resolution  of 
the  Irish  House  of  Lords,  on  i6th  November  1767.  Sir 
Marcus  her  husband  was  created  Earl  of  Tyrone  in  1746. 
The  son  of  Sir  Marcus  and  Lady  Katherine,  George  De  la 
Poer,  was  created  Marquess  of  Waterford  in  1789,  and 
Knight  of  St.  Patrick  at  the  Institution  of  the  Order  in 
1783.  First  Marquess,  he  was  the  first  De  la  Poer  Beres- 
ford. 

The  De  la  Poer,  Power,  or  Poher,  family  traces  its 
descent  from  Comorre  I.,  Count  of  le  Poher,  who  married  the 
widow  of  Jonas,  King  of  Domnone"e,  and  who  died  A.D.  554. 
Le  Poher  was  one  of  the  five  independent  states  of  Brittany, 
of  which  the  others  were  La  Domnone*e,  La  Cornouailles,  Le 
Vannes,  and  Le  Leon.  The  genealogy  of  the  Le  Poers  is 


xx    MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

interesting,  if  only  by  reason  of  its  romantic  names.  From 
Comorre  I.,  Count  of  le  Poher,  descended  the  Counts 
Comorre,  Erispoe,  Rivallon,  Nominee.  Nominoe  married 
one  Argantal,  defeated  Charles  the  Bald,  drove  the  Franks 
out  of  Brittany,  and  was  proclaimed  King  of  that  country 
in  841.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Erispoe,  who  married 
Mormohec.  From  the  aforesaid  Rivallon  descended  Salo- 
mon, who  (having  achieved  a  little  murderous  intrigue) 
succeeded  King  Erispoe,  and  married  Wembrit.  From  the 
brother  of  Salomon,  Mathuedoi,  descended  Alain,  Count  of 
Vannes  and  Duke  of  Brittany,  who  fought  against  the 
Normans,  and  who  was  driven  by  them  to  take  refuge  in 
England.  His  son  Alain  (called  Barbe-torte)  returned  to 
Brittany,  drove  out  the  Normans  in  his  turn,  and  united  Le 
Poer  to  the  Duchy. 

From  the  Pohers,  in  the  female  line,  descended  Arthur, 
Duke  of  Brittany,  who  was  done  to  death  by  John,  King  of 
England,  A.D.  1203.  There  is  this  other  link  between  John 
of  England  and  the  De  la  Poers,  that  in  the  demesne  of 
Curraghmore  an  ancient  bridge  of  stone,  over  which  the 
English  King  is  said  to  have  passed,  spans  the  river  and 
is  called  John's  Bridge  to  this  day.  From  the  Duchess 
Constance,  the  mother  of  Arthur  of  Brittany,  descended 
the  Duchess  Anne,  who  married  King  Louis  XII.  of  France. 
Brittany  was  thus  incorporated  in  France. 

The  Pohers  seem  to  have  come  to  England  with  Duke 
William  of  Normandy,  called  the  Conqueror.  In  1066 
they  are  found  in  Devonshire ;  and  later,  in  Leicestershire, 
Northamptonshire,  Shropshire,  Warwickshire,  Gloucester- 
shire, Wiltshire,  Herefordshire  ;  a  fructuous  and  an  acquisi- 
tive clan.  They  came  to  Ireland  in  the  reign  of  the  second 
Henry:  then  came  Sir  Robert,  Sir  Roger,  William  and 
Simon.  Sir  Roger  helped  in  the  invasion  of  Ulster.  But 
the  founder  of  the  De  la  Poers  of  Curraghmore  was  Sir 
Robert,  who,  in  the  year  1172,  accompanied  King  Henry  II. 
as  Knight  Marshal,  and  to  whom  was  given  by  the  King,  the 
town  of  Waterford  and  a  great  parcel  of  county  Waterford. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xxi 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  in  the  course  of  his  account  of  the  province  of 
Munster,  communicated  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council, 
describes  his  visit  to  John,  Lord  le  Poer,  who  was  born  in 
1527.  "27th  Feb.,  1575.  The  day  I  departed  from  Water- 
ford  I  lodged  that  night  at  Curraghmore,  the  house  that 
Lord  Power  is  baron  of,  where  I  was  so  used,  and  with 
such  plenty  and  good  order  entertained  (as  adding  to  it  the 
quiet  of  all  the  country  adjoining,  by  the  people  called 
Power  country,  for  that  surname  has  been  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Englishman's  planting  inhabitants  there),  it  may 
be  well  compared  with  the  best  ordered  country  in  the 
English  Pale.  And  the  Lord  of  the  country,  though  he  be 
of  scope  of  ground  a  far  less  territory  than  his  neighbour 
is,  yet  he  lives  in  show  far  more  honourably  and  plentifully 
than  he  or  any  other,  whatsoever  he  be,  of  his  calling  that 
lives  in  his  province." 

The  "Peerage  of  Ireland"  of  1768  urbanely  observes: 
"  It  is  very  remarkable,  that  in  so  long  a  succession  in  this 
family,  and  in  a  country  continually  disturbed  and  torn  by 
rebellion  and  civil  wars,  that  not  one  of  this  family  was  ever 
engaged  in  any  rebellion  against  the  crown  of  England,  nor 
was  there  ever  a  forfeiture  in  the  family  during  the  space  of 
six  hundred  years  that  they  have  been  planted  in  Ireland ; 
and  they  at  this  day  enjoy  the  family  lands,  and  reside  at 
the  same  place  they  were  originally  settled  in,  in  the  county 
of  Waterford.  In  a  grant  of  letters  patent  from  King 
Charles  II.  to  this  Richard,  Lord  la  Poer,  bearing  date  the 
9th  May,  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  reign,  there  is  this 
recital.  That  the  ancestors  of  the  said  Richard,  Lord  la 
Poer,  from  their  first  planting  in  Ireland,  for  above  four 
hundred  years,  had  entirely  preserved  their  faith  and 
loyalty  to  the  crown  of  England,  in  consideration  therefore," 
etc. 

Sir  Tristram  Beresford,  up  in  the  North,  fought  against 
King  James  Second;  but  the  De  la  Poers  harboured  that 
monarch ;  who  in  the  course  of  his  retreat  from  Ireland, 


xxii     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

slept  a  night  at  Curraghmore,  and  departing  thence  took 
ship  at  Waterford,  and  was  no  more  seen  in  Erin. 

Sir  Marcus,  the  son  of  Sir  Tristram,  as  above  recited, 
united  the  two  houses  by  marrying  the  Lady  Katherine  le 
Poer;  and  their  descendants,  as  in  1768,  "at  this  day  enjoy 
the  family  lands  and  reside  at  the  same  place  they  were 
originally  settled  in."  The  earldom  of  Tyrone,  which  was 
extinguished  by  the  death  of  Lady  Katherine's  father,  the 
third  Earl,  was  revived  in  Sir  Marcus  Beresford.  Tracing 
back  the  direct  line  of  the  De  la  Poers  of  Curraghmore,  we 
find  that  Nicholas  de  la  Poer  was  summoned  to  Parliament 
in  1375,  in  1378,  and  in  1383,  by  the  most  ancient  writs 
contained  in  the  Rolls  Office  in  Ireland.  This  Sir  Nicholas 
of  Curraghmore  traced  his  descent  from  Brian  Boru,  King 
of  Erin,  who  died  in  1014.  The  line  of  Irish  Kings  (as 
recorded  in  WhitakeSs  Almanack]  goes  back  to  A.D.  4 ;  and 
some  say  much  further. 

A  collateral  branch  of  the  De  Pohers,  or  Powers,  was 
the  Barons  of  Donoyle,  or  Dunhill,  the  ruins  of  whose  castle 
remain  to  this  day.  It  was  stoutly  defended  against  Crom- 
well by  the  Baroness;  and,  according  to  tradition,  was 
betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  by  the  lieutenant  of 
her  garrison.  These  Powers  were  then  transplanted  to  Con- 
naught,  and  their  estates  were  forfeited.  Another  collateral 
branch  was  the  Powers  of  Knockbrit,  county  Tipperary. 
In  the  year  1789,  to  Edmund  Power  and  his  wife,  who  was 
a  daughter  of  "  Buck  "  Sheehy,  was  born  Marguerite,  who 
became  Lady  Blessington.  It  seems  that  her  father, 
"  Buck  "  Power,  dissipated  his  fortune,  as  the  mode  was  in 
those  days ;  that  he  compelled  his  daughter  to  marry  one 
Captain  Farmer,  who  ill-treated  her ;  that  Mrs.  Farmer  left 
her  husband,  came  to  London  with  her  brother,  was  painted 
by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  and,  after  Farmer's  death,  married 
Lord  Blessington.  Here  is  a  link  with  my  Lord  Byron. 

The  relation  of  the  De  la  Poer  Beresfords  with  the 
Delavals  of  Seaton-Delaval  in  Northumberland,  consists  in 
the  marriage  of  Sir  Henry  de  la  Poer,  second  Marquess 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xxiii 

(1772-1826),  with  Lady  Susanna  Carpenter,  who  was  the 
granddaughter  of  Lord  Delaval.  Her  mother,  daughter 
of  Lord  Delaval,  married  George,  second  Earl  of  Tyrconnel. 
The  Lady  Tyrconnel  was  famed  for  her  beauty.  The 
portrait  of  her  daughter,  Lady  Susanna,  now  at  Curragh- 
more,  represents  a  singularly  beautiful,  fair-haired  creature, 
delicately  featured,  blue-eyed.  The  Delavals  would  seem 
to  have  been  a  high-spirited,  reckless,  and  spendthrift  race. 
Extravagant  entertainments  were  devised  at  their  house  of 
Seaton-Delaval,  which  was  built  by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh, 
playwright  and  architect.  The  actor  Foote  was  a  friend 
of  the  family ;  they  were  devoted  to  amateur  theatricals ; 
and  Garrick  once  lent  Drury  Lane  Theatre  to  them.  The 
Delavals  were  singularly  addicted  to  practical  jokes ;  a 
tendency  to  the  same  diversion  has  reappeared  in  later 
generations.  Lord  Delaval's  only  son  died  young,  and  the 
title  expired.  There  is  a  picture  of  the  sturdy,  brown-haired 
lad  at  Curraghmore.  It  is  worth  noting  that  an  ancestor 
of  Lady  Susanna,  and,  therefore,  of  Lord  Charles  Beresford, 
was  a  naval  officer  of  some  distinction.  George  Delaval, 
vice-admiral  of  the  Red,  was  present  at  the  action  fought 
off  Cape  Barfleur  in  May  1692. 

The  generation  of  the  second  Marquess,  he  who  married 
the  Lady  Susanna,  produced  an  Archbishop:  even  the 
Right  Honourable  and  Most  Reverend  Lord  John  George 
de  la  Poer  Beresford,  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate 
of  all  Ireland.  He  was  born  in  1773,  and  died  in  1862. 
Possessing  great  wealth,  he  was  known  for  his  immense 
benefactions.  He  gave  largely  to  Dublin  University,  and 
to  the  College  of  Saint  Coiumba ;  restored  the  Cathedral 
at  Armagh  at  a  cost  of  ^30,000 ;  and  augmented  the  salaries 
of  his  clergy.  The  bust  of  this  magnificent  prelate  stands 
in  the  private  chapel  at  Curraghmore.  His  body  is  interred 
in  Armagh  Cathedral.  The  Archbishop  bequeathed  his 
property  in  county  Cavan  to  Lord  Charles  Beresford ;  the 
townlands  on  the  estate  bearing  such  euphonious  names 
as  Ballyheady,  Corraleehan  Beg,  Crockawaddy,  Kiltynas- 


xxiv    MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

keelan,  Derrynacrieve,  Gubnagree,  Scrabby,  Tullyna- 
moultra. 

The  third  Marquess,  Sir  Henry  de  la  Poer,  having  met 
his  death  in  the  hunting-field,  was  succeeded  in  1859  by 
his  brother,  Sir  John,  who  was  Dean  and  Prebendary  of 
Mullaghbrack,  in  the  Arch-diocese  of  Armagh.  He  married, 
in  1843,  Christina  Leslie,  daughter  of  Charles  Powell-Leslie. 
She  was  born  in  1820,  and  lived  until  1905.  The  Marchion- 
ess learned  to  ride  when  she  was  between  forty  and  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  speedily  became  a  noted  rider  to  hounds. 
Their  sons,  as  before  recited,  were  Sir  John-Henry  de  la 
Poer,  fifth  Marquess  of  Waterford;  Lord  Charles,  Lord 
William,  Lord  Marcus,  and  Lord  Delaval ;  of  whom  Lord 
Charles  and  Lord  Marcus  survive  at  the  time  of  writing. 
Lord  Charles  was  born  on  loth  February  1846  at  Philips- 
town  Glebe,  Louth.  It  was  the  year  of  the  great  famine; 
and  at  Curraghmore,  half  a  regiment  was  then  quartered  in 
the  house. 

The  fifth  Marquess,  elder  brother  of  Lord  Charles,  was 
succeeded  in  1895  by  his  son,  nephew  to  Lord  Charles. 
The  sixth  Marquess  lost  his  life  by  a  sad  accident  in  1911. 
The  present  heir  is  a  minor. 

In  this  chronicle,  brief  as  it  is,  three  notable  figures 
cannot  be  omitted :  Mr.  Commissioner  John  Beresford, 
Admiral  Sir  John  Poo  Beresford,  and  the  Marshal.  (For 
information  concerning  these  worthies,  I  have  drawn  upon 
the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography?) 

John  Beresford,  whose  name  is  even  yet  occasionally 
reproached  by  the  descendants  of  his  political  opponents, 
was  born  in  1738,  and  died  in  1805.  He  was  the  second 
son  of  Marcus,  Earl  of  Tyrone  (brother  of  the  first  Marquess) 
and  Lady  Katherine,  Baroness  de  la  Poer.  Appointed 
First  Commissioner  of  Revenue  in  1780,  John  Beresford 
became  in  fact  ruler  of  Ireland.  He  was  entrusted  by  Pitt 
with  the  management  of  all  Irish  affairs.  Viceroys  came 
and  viceroys  went,  but  Beresford  continued  to  hold  a 
position  "greater  than  that  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  him- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xxv 

self" ;  much  to  the  indignation  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who, 
when  he  was  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant,  permitted  himself 
to  address  the  First  Commissioner  in  terms  so  indigestible 
that  Beresford  promptly  challenged  him.  The  duel, 
however,  was  prevented.  John  Beresford  took  a  great  part 
in  the  preparation  and  passing  of  the  Act  of  Union;  was 
M.P.  for  Waterford  and  a  Privy  Councillor ;  and  did  much 
to  improve  the  city  of  Dublin,  the  fine  Custom-house  being 
built  under  his  auspices.  He  married  Barbara  Montgomery, 
who  was  one  of  the  "  Three  Graces "  in  the  painting  done 
by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  now  in  the  National  Gallery.  The 
other  two  Graces  were  her  sister,  Lady  Mountjoy,  and  the 
Marchioness  of  Townshend. 

Admiral  Sir  John  Poo  Beresford  (1768  (?)-i884)  was  a 
natural  son  of  the  first  Marquess  of  Waterford.  He  entered 
the  Royal  Navy  in  1782 ;  fought  a  smart  action  in  the 
capture  of  the  French  store-ships  in  Hampton  Roads  on 
1 7th  May  1795  ;  and  performed  distinguished  service  in  the 
West  Indies.  He  took  part  in  the  famous  eight  months' 
blockade  offFerrol  in  1808,  and  in  the  blockade  of  Lorient, 
commanding  one  of  those  "  weather-beaten  ships  upon  which 
the  Grand  Army  never  looked."  In  1810  he  was  co-operat- 
ing off  Lisbon  with  Wellington's  army,  with  which  his 
younger  brother  the  Marshal,  in  command  of  the  Portuguese 
Army,  was  also  co-operating.  He  represented  in  Parliament, 
in  succession,  Coleraine,  Berwick,  Northallerton,  and 
Chatham.  In  1835  he  was  Junior  Lord  of  the  Admiralty. 
His  career,  a  combination  of  fighting  seaman,  member  of 
Parliament,  and  Junior  Lord,  presents  a  singular  resem- 
blance to  the  career  of  his  relative,  Lord  Charles  Beresford. 

Marshal  Beresford,  or,  more  precisely,  General  Viscount 
William  Carr  Beresford,  was  born  in  1768  and  died,  full  of 
years  and  honours,  in  1854.  Son  of  the  first  Marquess,  he 
also,  like  the  Admiral,  bore  the  bar  sinister  on  his 
escutcheon.  As  captain  of  the  6pth  Regiment,  he  was  with 
Lord  Hood  at  Toulon  in  1793,  and  commanded  the  storm- 
ing party  at  the  tower  of  Martello.  He  was  present  at  the 


xxvi     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

captures  of  Bastia,  Calvi,  and  San  Fiorenzo.  After  service 
in  India,  Beresford's  brigade  led  the  march  across  the  desert 
in  the  Egyptian  campaign  of  1801.  Eighty-four  years  later, 
his  relative,  Captain  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  took  his  Naval 
Brigade  across  the  desert  with  Sir  Herbert  Stewart's  forlorn 
hope. 

Beresford  was  present  at  the  capture  of  Cape  Colony 
under  Baird  in  1805.  Then  he  went  up  to  Buenos  Ayres, 
and  with  1200  men  took  that  place  from  the  Spanish. 
After  three  days'  hard  fighting,  Beresford  was  driven  out  of 
Buenos  Ayres  by  an  overwhelming  force.  Then  he  went 
with  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  to  Portugal ;  where  he  com- 
manded two  brigades  under  Sir  John  Moore.  In  the  terrible 
winter  retreat  to  Corunna,  Beresford's  brigade,  told  off  to 
assist  the  rescue,  was  constantly  engaged  with  the  French 
vanguard.  At  Corunna,  Beresford  fought  on  the  English 
left,  achieving  the  greatest  distinction. 

In  1809,  at  the  request  of  the  Portuguese  Government, 
Beresford  was  appointed  to  reorganise  the  Portuguese  Army. 
Gifted  with  that  marvellous  capacity  for  handling  men  and 
for  organisation,  which  Irishmen  of  English  descent  some- 
times combine  with  a  reckless  gallantry,  Beresford  speedily 
transformed  an  ill-found,  insubordinate  mob  into  an  effi- 
cient, well-fed,  fighting  force.  He  knew  how  to  establish 
obedience  to  discipline,  together  with  the  confidence  that 
good  conduct  would  be  rewarded ;  or,  in  Lord  Charles 
Beresford's  phrase,  he  coupled  "commendation  with  con- 
demnation." The  Portuguese  Government  made  him 
marshal  in  the  Portuguese  Army  while  he  was  lieutenant- 
general  in  the  British  Army;  nor  did  the  annoyance 
discovered  by  British  officers  at  the  double  rank,  which  gave 
Wellington  trouble,  perturb  the  Marshal  in  the  least.  His 
Portuguese  fought  well  alongside  the  English  at  Busaco, 
an  action  which  earned  Beresford  the  K.C.B.  and  other 
decorations. 

He  won  the  battle  of  Albuera,  defeating  Soult,  though 
not  without  heavy  losses.  The  victory  was  said  to  be  due 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xxvii 

to  the  action  of  one  of  his  Staff,  rather  than  to  Beresford's 
tactics ;  a  good  deal  of  controversy  was  waged  on  the  sub- 
ject, in  which  the  Marshal,  after  his  retirement,  took  a 
vigorous  part ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  Albuera  was  won. 

Beresford  was  present  at  the  tremendous  siege  of 
Badajoz  and  at  the  battle  of  Salamanca,  at  which  he  was 
severely  wounded.  He  speedily  recovered,  and  fought  at 
Vittoria  in  1813,  in  the  battles  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  in  the 
battles  of  Nivelle,  Nive,  and  Arthez.  He  then  returned  to 
Portugal  to  command  the  Portuguese  Army ;  so  that  he  was 
not  present  at  Waterloo.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  he 
was  created  Baron.  He  left  Portugal  in  1822,  and  took 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  where  he  was  a  sturdy 
supporter  of  the  policy  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  In 
1828  he  was  appointed  Master-General  of  Ordnance.  In 
1830  he  retired. 

Wellington  wrote  of  the  Marshal  in  1812 :  "  All  that  I  can 
tell  you  is  that  the  ablest  man  I  have  yet  seen  with  the 
army,  and  that  one  having  the  largest  views,  is  Beresford 
...  he  is  the  only  person  capable  of  conducting  a  large 
concern."  And  upon  another  occasion,  Wellington  affirmed 
that  if  he  were  removed  by  death  or  illness,  he  would 
recommend  Beresford  to  succeed  him,  not  because  he  was 
a  great  general,  but  because  he  alone  could  "  feed  an 
army." 

General  Lord  Beresford  married  the  Hon.  Louisa  Hope, 
his  first  cousin,  daughter  of  the  Most  Rev.  William  Beres- 
ford, Archbishop  of  Tuam  and  Lord  Decies,  and  widow  of 
Thomas  Hope,  author  of  Anastatius.  His  stepson  was 
A.  T.  Beresford- Hope,  sometime  member  for  Cambridge 
University. 

In  1824  the  Marshal  purchased  the  ancestral  estate  of 
the  Beresfords  in  Staffordshire.  His  portrait,  which  bears 
a  singular  resemblance  to  Lord  Charles,  hangs  in  Curragh- 
more.  It  depicts  a  burly,  martial  figure,  gorgeous  in  full 
uniform,  with  a  broad,  jovial,  open  countenance,  and  a  bold 
blue  eye,  head  thrown  back,  and  a  vast  spread  of  chest  and 


xxviii     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

shoulder.  Endowed  with  extraordinary  physical  strength, 
he  was  a  born  fighter,  a  great  administrator,  a  big,  warm- 
hearted, quick-tempered,  irrepressible  Beresford. 

The  formal  list  of  his  titles  is :  Viscount  and  Baron  in 
the  peerage  of  England,  Duke  of  Elvas  in  the  peerage  of 
Spain,  Conde  de  Trancoso  in  the  peerage  of  Portugal, 
K.C.B.,  etc.,  colonel-in-chief  6oth  Rifles,  colonel  i6th 
Regiment,  general  in  the  English  Army,  marshal  in  the 
Portuguese  Army. 

The  generations  pass :  the  House  remains.  The  House 
of  de  la  Poer  Beresford  derives,  from  among  other  sources 
innumerable,  from  the  Counts  of  Brittany,  in  the  sixth 
century ;  from  Brian  Boru,  King  of  Ireland,  in  the  eleventh ; 
from  the  Beresfords,  that  "very  old  and  eminent  English 
family,"  Norman  in  origin ;  from  the  Delavals  of  Northum- 
berland, whose  forefathers  fought  in  the  Crusades.  This  is 
the  virtue  of  ancient  lineage:  that  from  generation  to 
generation,  an  honourable  tradition  of  service,  of  peculiar 
obligation,  gathers  reinforcement.  Every  scion  of  the  House 
is  judged  by  the  stern  company  of  his  forefathers;  who, 
together  with  his  dower  of  body  and  of  mind  and  heritage 
of  land  or  wealth,  bequeath  him  warning  or  example.  No 
traffic  in  titles  can  purchase  that  unique  inheritance,  nor 
can  any  forfeiture  of  material  possessions  diminish  its 
essential  value. 

L.  C.  C. 


THE    MEMOIRS    OF    ADMIRAL 
LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 


CHAPTER  I 
I   SEE  THE   FLEET 

I   SAW  the  Navy  for  the  first  time  in  the  year   1858, 
when  I  was  twelve  years  old.     The  Channel  Squadron 
came  into  the  Downs ;  the  admiral,  who  was  a  friend 
of  my  father,  invited  me  to  visit  his  flagship.     The  admiral 
put  off  from  Deal  in  a  six-oared  galley,  and  I  was  taken 
into  a  second  boat.     Both  crews  began  to  pull  with  all  their 
might.     I  remember  being  intensely  excited,  beating  with 
my  hand  on  the  gunwale  and  urging  the  men  to  row  faster. 
We  were  overhauling  the  admiral,  when  the  boat  in  which 
I  was  slackened  her  pace. 

" Row ! "  I  shouted.     "  Why  don't  you  go  on  rowing? " 

"  We  can't  pass  the  admiral,  sir,"  said  the  coxswain. 
And  that  was  my  first  lesson  in  naval  etiquette. 

As  we  drew  near  to  the  ships,  there  arose  a  great  tumult 
of  shouting,  and  I  could  see  the  men  running  to  and  fro  and 
racing  aloft,  and  presently  they  stood  in  rows  along  the 
yards,  manning  yards  in  honour  of  the  arrival  of  the 
admiral. 

The  neatness  and  order  of  the   stately  ships,  the  taut 
rigging,  the  snowy  sails,  the  ropes  coiled  down  neatly  on 
deck :    these   things   left  an   abiding  impression   upon  my 
youthful  mind. 
VOL.  i. — i 


2      MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  the  same  year,  1858-9,  that  a 
certain  young  soldier,  who  had  fought  throughout  the 
Indian  Mutiny  with  great  gallantry  and  conspicuous  ability, 
came  to  his  home  in  County  Waterford  on  his  first  furlough. 
He  was  Lieutenant  Roberts,  V.C. ;  now  Field-Marshal  Earl 
Roberts  of  Kandahar. 

"  During  the  winter  months,"  he  writes,  "  I  hunted  with 
the  Curraghmore  hounds,  and  was  out  with  them  the  day 
before  Lord  Waterford  was  killed.  We  had  no  run,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  day,  when  wishing  us  good-bye,  he  said 
'  I  hope,  gentlemen,  we  shall  have  better  luck  next  time.' 
'  Next  time '  there  was  '  better  luck '  as  regarded  the  hunting, 
but  the  worst  of  all  possible  luck  for  Lord  Waterford's 
numerous  friends  ;  in  returning  home  after  a  good  run,  and 
having  killed  two  foxes,  his  horse  stumbled  over  quite  a 
small  ditch,  throwing  his  rider  on  his  head ;  the  spinal  cord 
was  snapped,  and  the  fine  sportsman  breathed  his  last  in 
a  few  moments."  {Forty-one  years  in  India.  By  Field- 
Marshal  Lord  Roberts  of  Kandahar.  Bentley.  2  vols. 
London,  1897,  p.  451,  vol.  I.) 

My  father,  the  Rev.  Lord  John  Beresford,  succeeded  to 
the  marquisate.  In  the  same  year,  1859,  I  joined  the  Naval 
Service.  I  remember,  some  years  afterwards,  thinking  with 
some  degree  of  envy  of  my  two  younger  brothers,  each  of 
whom  had  three  hunters,  while  I  was  only  the  "  blood-boat " 
(the  jolly-boat  bringing  beef  to  the  ship)  midshipman  of  a 
man-of-war. 

At  that  time  the  Navy  consisted  of  both  sailing  ships  and 
steamships.  Steam  was  used  as  seldom  as  possible  in  those 
ships  which  were  fitted  with  masts  and  yards.  The  flagships 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  East  Indies  and  China,  South- 
east Coast  of  America,  Pacific  and  North  America  and  West 
Indies  stations  were  all  sailing  ships.  The  Navy  List  of 
1859  gives  the  names  of  no  less  than  548  "effective"  ships, 
together  with  a  list  of  185  "steam  gunboats"  and  a  list  of 
121  vessels  employed  in  Harbour  Service. 

That  there  was  so  large  a  number  of  "  steam  gunboats  " 


I  SEE  THE  FLEET  3 

was  the  result  of  the  Crimean  war,  during  which  very 
many  were  built  for  service  in  the  Baltic.  There  is  a  story 
that  an  admiral  returning  from  foreign  service  noticed  eight 
gunboats  aground  on  the  Spit.  Upon  his  inquiry,  he  was 
informed  by  one  of  his  crew  that  they  were  "  commanded 
by  these  old  Baltic  War  mates  and  second  masters,  the 
sort  what  knows  nothing  and  fears  nothing."  But  of  the 
sailing  master  there  will  be  more  to  say. 

The  line-of-battle  sailing  ships  which  were  flagships  on 
naval  stations  abroad  were : — the  Boscawen,  70  guns,  Rear- 
Admiral  Hon.  Sir  Frederick  W.  Grey,  Cape  of  Good  Hope ; 
Calcutta,  84,  Rear-Admiral  Sir  Michael  Seymour,  East 
Indies  and  China;  Cumberland,  70,  Rear-Admiral  Sir 
Stephen  Lushington,  S.E.  Coast  of  America;  Ganges,  84, 
Rear- Admiral  R.  L.  Baynes,  Pacific;  Hibernia,  104,  Rear- 
Admiral  H.  J.  Codrington,  Malta ;  Indus,  78,  Vice- Admiral 
Sir  Houston  Stewart,  North  America  and  West  Indies. 

The  number  of  ships  distributed  among  the  various 
stations  in  1859  was  no  less  than  130.  "Trade  follows 
the  flag." 


East  Indies  and  China     . 

Pacific    .... 

W.  Coast  of  Africa 

N.  America  and  W.  Indies 

S.  E.  Coast  of  America   . 

Mediterranean         .         . 

Cape  of  Good  Hope 

Australia 

River  Gambia 

Channel 


.         .  36 

.  12 

.••       •  J7 

.  14 

•  13 

.  22 

•  5 

.  4 
i 

.  6 

Total  130 


The  presence  of  so  large  a  force  in  Chinese  waters  was 
due  to  the  affair  of  "the  lorcha  Arrow"  which  occurred  on 
8th  October,  1856,  in  the  Canton  River.  The  Arrow,  a  small 
vessel  flying  the  British  flag,  was  captured  by  the  Chinese 
authorities  and  the  crew  were  arrested  on  a  charge  of  piracy. 
In  the  result,  Admiral  Sir  Michael  Seymour  bombarded 


4      MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Canton.  Operations  were  suspended  during  the  Indian 
Mutiny,  to  be  resumed  in  1858,  with  the  assistance  of 
France.  Canton  was  captured,  and  the  treaty  of  Tien-Tsin 
was  concluded  with  China.  It  was  not,  however,  ratified, 
and  in  June,  1859 — six  months  before  I  entered  the  Navy 
— hostilities  were  resumed,  to  terminate  in  the  burning  of 
the  Summer  Palace  at  Pekin,  and  the  subsequent  signing  of 
a  convention. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  SERVICE 

I  WAS  sent  to  sea  for  the  somewhat  vague  reasons  which 
so  often  determine  a  boy's  future.  There  was  a  belief 
that  I  was  of  a  delicate  constitution,  and  an  impression 
— perhaps  justified — that  I  needed  discipline.  I  was  sent 
to  Bayford  School  in  England  when  I  was  very  young, 
together  with  two  of  my  three  brothers.  We  were  known 
as  the  three  "wild  Irish."  Among  my  schoolfellows  were 
the  present  Lord  Rosebery,  James  Lowther,  Lord  Newport, 
Lord  Claud  Hamilton  and  Lord  George  Hamilton,  Lord 
Worcester,  and  Lord  Methuen.  From  Bayford  I  went  to  the 
educational  establishment  of  the  Rev.  David  Bruce  Payne 
(afterwards  Canon)  at  Deal,  where  I  first  saw  the  ships  of 
the  Royal  Navy,  as  already  related.  Canon  Payne  was  a 
splendid  type  of  the  best  British  clergyman,  and  I  had  a 
great  respect  and  affection  for  him.  I  was  afterwards  a 
pupil  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Foster,  of  Stubbington,  Fareham. 

I  received  my  nomination  from  Captain  Charles  Eden, 
C.B.,  and  qualified  as  a  naval  cadet  on  I2th  December,  1859. 
The  qualifying  certificate  must  be  signed  by  the  candidate ;  a 
regulation  which,  simple  as  it  seems,  was  nearly  my  undoing. 

"  Do  you  always  sign  your  Christian  name  William  with 
one  '  1'  ? "  asked  the  examiner. 

It  was  a  critical  moment.  Irish  resource  supplied  the 
answer. 

"  I  said,  "  Only  sometimes,  sir." 

The  examiner  smiled  grimly.  But  he  passed  me.  It 
was  my  first  narrow  escape  in  the  Navy. 


6      MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

I  have  the  faded  blue  paper  before  me  as  I  write.  The 
signature,  laboriously  written  in  a  round  hand,  is  "  Charles 
Wiliam  Delapoer  Beresford." 

The  qualifying  examination  was  not  very  formidable  in 
those  easy  days.  The  knowledge  required  consisted  of  a 
little  "  English,"  less  French  or  Latin  (with  the  "  aid  of  a 
dictionary  "),  a  "  satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  leading  facts 
of  Scripture  and  English  History,"  a  certain  amount  of 
geography,  and  an  elementary  knowledge  of  arithmetic, 
algebra  and  Euclid.  The  preliminary  course  of  education 
afforded  to  "Volunteers,"  as  the  naval  cadets  used  to  be 
called,  at  the  Royal  Naval  College,  Portsmouth,  had  been 
abolished  in  1837,  and  for  the  next  twenty  years  cadets 
were  sent  straight  to  sea.  In  1857,  cadets  were  entered  for 
training  in  the  Illustrious,  Captain  Robert  Harris.  The 
number  of  cadets  exceeding  the  accommodation  in  the  ship, 
the  Britannia  was  commissioned  on  ist  January,  1859,  by 
Captain  Harris.  But  not  for  many  years  did  the  entrance 
examination  become  the  competitive  ordeal  for  which 
cramming  is  the  only  preparation,  known  to  the  present 
generation.  But  I  remember  Admiral  William  Bowles, 
commander-in-chief  of  Portsmouth,  taking  me  kindly  by 
the  shoulder  and  saying,  "  Well,  my  little  man,  you  are  very 
small  for  your  age.  Why  are  you  being  sent  to  sea  ?  " 

I  said  that  I  wanted  to  go  to  sea. 

"  Are  you  good  at  your  books  ? "  asked  the  admiral. 
"  Bless  me,  I  know  many  an  admiral  who  could  not  pass 
the  examination  you  have  passed.  Good  Heavens,  what 
they  expect  boys  to  do  nowadays  !  " 

The  Britannia  was  then  moored  at  the  entrance  to 
Haslar  Creek  in  Portsmouth  Harbour,  where  the  depot 
ships  of  the  submarines  are  moored  to-day.  Alongside 
her,  in  the  following  year,  lay  the  training  frigate  Eurydice, 
which  was  afterwards  capsized  off  the  Isle  of  Wight  on 
24th  March,  1878,  when  318  lives  were  lost  out  of  a  comple- 
ment of  320.  I  learned  to  heave  the  lead  from  the  chains 
of  the  Eurydice. 


THE  AUTHOR  AS  NAVAL  CADET 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  SERVICE  7 

In  addition  to  the  ordinary  school  curriculum  on  board 
the  Britannia,  the  cadets  were  taught  seamanship,  gunnery 
and  navigation.  Book- work  did  not  interest  me,  but  I  took 
great  pains  to  become  proficient  in  seamanship,  in  which 
I  always  secured  a  high  place. 

A  cadet  entering  the  Britannia  under  14  years  of  age, 
would  be  rejected  from  the  Service  if  he  failed  to  pass  the 
fourth  quarterly  examination  after  his  entrance.  Having 
entered  the  Britannia  in  December,  1859,  I  was  sent  to  sea 
in  March,  1861.  I  was  very  happy  during  my  time  in  the 
Britannia.  Out  of  school  time,  we  did  a  great  deal  of  boat- 
pulling.  My  boat  was  called  the  Gazelle.  I  remember 
that  one  day,  when  I  borrowed  a  private  boat  to  put  off  to 
the  Gazelle,  my  comrades  pushed  me  out  into  the  stream, 
and  I  drifted  out  to  Spithead,  without  oars.  There  was 
nothing  in  the  boat  but  a  painter,  which  I  considered  it 
to  be  my  duty  neatly  to  coil  down.  Then  I  sat  still  and 
waited  until  a  boat  came  to  fetch  me. 

Seamanship  was  taught  by  the  use  of  models,  and  sail- 
drill  was  taught  upon  the  mizen-mast.  I  remember  being 
haunted  by  a  doubt  lest  the  handling  of  small  models,  and 
going  aloft  in  a  stationary  ship,  might  not  enable  me  to 
practise  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  when  I  came  to  deal 
with  the  real  full-size  objects  and  to  go  aloft  in  a  ship  at 
sea.  My  prevision  was  largely  justified;  and  when  I  came 
to  command  a  ship,  I  made  the  youngsters  learn  their 
business  by  handling  real  things  and  not  the  models  of 
them.  For  if  anything  goes  wrong  while  teaching  a 
youngster,  for  instance,  to  lay  out  a  6-ton  anchor  upon  a 
model,  he  puts  it  right  with  his  finger  and  thumb  and  thinks 
he  can  do  the  same  with  the  real  anchor. 

The  captain  of  the  Britannia  was  Robert  Harris,  to 
whom  the  Service  owes  the  inestimable  benefit  of  cadet 
training  ships.  The  first  lieutenant  was  George  S.  Nares 
(now  Vice-Admiral  Sir  George  S.  Nares,  K.C.B.).  He 
commanded  the  Challenger  in  her  voyage  of  scientific 
discovery  of  1872,  during  which  he  was  recalled  to  proceed 


8      MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

upon  his  celebrated  voyage  of  Arctic  exploration.  Another 
lieutenant  was  William  H.  Heaton,  whose  long  whiskers 
afforded  the  cadets  much  innocent  amusement.  On  a 
windy  day  his  whiskers  used  to  stream  backwards  over  his 
shoulders.  Lieutenant  Heaton  chose  to  wear  his  stripes 
running  longitudinally  up  his  arm,  a  peculiarity  which 
exemplifies  the  prevailing  latitude  with  regard  to  uniform. 
There  was  no  rule  prescribing  the  pattern  of  cap  or  great- 
coat worn  in  the  Service.  Officers  might  wear  the  mohair 
band  and  badge  on  any  kind  of  cap  that  took  their  fancy. 
Some  of  them  used  to  transfer  plain  clothes  buttons  to  a 
uniform  coat  or  greatcoat,  if  they  were  going  ashore,  for  the 
sake  of  economy ;  for  we  were  nearly  all  poor  in  those  days. 
The  chaplain  and  naval  instructor  was  the  Rev.  Robert 
M.  Inskip. 

My  chest  on  board  the  Britannia  stood  between  the 
chests  of  poor  "Andy"  Wauchope  and  Henry  John 
Thoroton  Hildyard.  Both  subsequently  left  the  Navy  for 
the  Army.  The  late  Major-General  Andrew  Gilbert 
Wauchope,  D.S.O.,  was  fatally  wounded  at  Magersfontein 
during  the  South  African  war.  General  Sir  Henry  J.  T. 
Hildyard,  G.C.B.,  K.C.B.,  retired  in  1911,  after  long  and 
distinguished  service.  I  was  strongly  inclined  to  follow  the 
example  of  my  comrades  and  to  join  the  Army;  and  I  have 
since  occasionally  regretted  that  I  remained  in  the  Navy, 
in  which  Service  there  is  less  opportunity  for  attaining  the 
highest  rank. 

I  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  "  captain  "  in  the  Britannia ; 
but  I  regret  to  say  that  my  enjoyment  of  that  dignity  was 
singularly  brief,  for  I  was  disrated  upon  the  same  day, 
even  before  I  had  time  to  put  on  the  stripe.  For  my 
delight  at  my  promotion  so  exhilarated  me,  that  I  forgot 
to  resist  the  temptation  to  empty  a  bread-barge  upon  the 
head  of  the  old  master-at-arms  as  he  was  coming  up  the 
hatchway,  and  the  spectacle  was  so  amusing  that  I  stayed  to 
laugh  at  it 

When   I   entered   the   Service,   the   system   of  training 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  SERVICE  9 

young  seamen,  as  well  as  cadets,  was  in  operation.  To 
Sir  James  Graham,  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  is  due  the 
credit  of  introducing  the  training  of  seamen.  In  1854, 
he  caused  the  Illustrious,  two-decker,  to  be  commissioned 
for  that  purpose,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Robert 
Harris.  The  fact  was  that  as  sails  gave  place  to  steam  and 
as  the  science  of  gunnery  progressed,  it  became  necessary 
to  enter  seamen  as  boys  and  to  train  them  for  continuous 
service.  For  some  time  the  short  service  and  long  service 
systems  were  concurrent.  When  I  went  to  sea,  captains 
still  entered  men  direct  from  the  merchant  service,  and  very 
good  seamen  they  were.  They  were  engaged  for  a  com- 
mission, at  the  end  of  which  they  could  re-engage  or  not  as 
they  pleased.  But  in  the  meantime,  under  the  admirable 
administration  of  Captain  Harris,  "Jimmy  Graham's 
novices,"  as  they  were  called,  earned  an  excellent  reputa- 
tion in  the  Fleet ;  and  continuous  service  gradually  replaced 
intermittent  service.  In  the  continuous  service  system 
resided  our  chief  superiority  over  foreign  Navies.  The 
objection  to  it  on  the  part  of  the  Government  was  (and  is) 
the  increasing  permanent  charge  of  pensions.  But  in  the 
interests  of  the  Service  and  of  the  country,  it  cannot  be  too 
clearly  understood  that  the  system  is  well  worth  the  cost, 
and  that  the  revival  of  the  short  service  system  is  profoundly 
to  be  regretted. 

NOTE 

H.M.S.  Britannia. — She  was  the  seventh  ship  of  her 
name.  She  was  launched  at  Plymouth  in  1820,  was  pierced 
for  1 20  guns,  and  her  complement  was  goo  men.  Her 
length,  beam  and  draught  were  205  feet,  53  feet  and  18  feet 
respectively.  In  the  Crimean  war,  she  landed  200  men 
as  part  of  the  naval  brigade  which  assisted  the  Army  at 
the  siege  of  Sevastopol,  and  took  part  in  the  bombardment 
of  that  town.  She  was  commissioned  on  ist  January,  1859, 
by  Captain  Robert  Harris,  as  a  training  ship  for  cadets. 


io     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  Britannia  was  stationed  first  in  Portsmouth  Harbour, 
then  at  Dartmouth.  She  was  broken  up  in  1869.  The 
memory  of  Captain  Robert  Harris  deserves  to  be  held  in 
high  honour.  Vice-Admiral  Sir  William  Fanshawe  Martin, 
who  himself  achieved  great  reforms  in  the  discipline  of 
the  Fleet,  while  in  command  of  the  Mediterranean  Fleet, 
wrote  to  Captain  Harris  under  date  i8th  January,  1861, 
"  There  is  no  man  in  England  whose  opportunity  of  doing 
good  to  our  country  for  ages  to  come  is  greater  than  yours ; 
and  assuredly  the  Navy  is  greatly  your  debtor."  (The  Story  of 
the  Britannia,  by  Commander  E.  P.  Statham,  R.N.  Cassell.) 
The  successor  of  the  Britannia  in  which  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  received  his  training,  the  eighth  of  her  name, 
known  and  remembered  with  affection  by  all  naval  officers 
save  the  new  generation,  lay  at  Dartmouth  for  more  than 
forty  years,  when  her  functions  were  transferred  to  the 
colleges  on  shore.  (The  Kings  Ships,  by  H.  S.  Lecky, 
Lieut.  R.N.  Muirhead.  Vol.  i.) 


ON  the  28th  of  March,  1861,  I  was   appointed  naval 
cadet  in  the  Marlborough.     As  I  climbed  up  her  side 
by  the  hand-rungs,  while  my  chest  was  being  hoisted 
in  over  all,  I  perceived  two  huge  men  looking  down  upon  me, 
and  I  heard  one  say  to  the  other : — 

"  That  white-faced  little  beggar  ain't  long  for  this  world, 
Dick." 

The  speaker  was  John  Glanville  (called  Clamfy  Glanville), 
boatswain's  mate  (of  whom  more  anon),  and  he  addressed 
this  lugubrious  remark  to  Dicky  Home,  the  quartermaster, 
a  very  fat  man.  It  was  a  far  from  encouraging  welcome  to 
the  sea  ;  but  the  fact  was  that  I  had  been  ill,  and  was  feeling 
very  cold  as  I  climbed  up  the  side  of  the  ship.  At  first,  I 
was  much  disappointed  at  having  been  sent  to  a  large 
ship,  for  we  youngsters  had  a  notion  that  there  were  more 
freedom  and  independence  in  a  small  ship ;  and  besides, 
I  wanted  to  go  to  China.  But  I  went  to  China  all  in 
good  time. 

The  Marlborough  was  the  flagship  of  the  Mediterranean 
station.  She  was  a  wooden  line  of  battleship,  three-decker, 
launched  in  1835,  4000  tons  burthen  old  measure,  6390 
displacement  new  measure,  fitted  with  single  screw  horizontal 
Maudslay  engines.  The  length  of  her  gundeck  was  245  feet 
6  inches,  her  extreme  beam  was  61  feet,  her  maximum 
draught  was  26  feet.  Her  complement  was  950,  and  she 
always  carried  100  or  more  supernumeraries.  She  was 
pierced  for  131  guns  and  she  carried  121  guns.  She  was 


12     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

one  of  the  first  ships  to  be  fitted  with  wire  lower  rigging. 
In  the  Marlborough  the  old  24-inch  hemp  cable  was  used  for 
laying  out  anchor  at  drill.  It  was  the  same  class  of  cable  as 
that  which  was  used  in  Nelson's  time ;  it  was  superseded  by 
the  chain  cable. 

The  vice-admiral  in  command  of  the  Mediterranean 
station  was  Sir  William  Fanshawe  Martin  (called  "Fly" 
Martin);  the  captain, William  H.  Stewart;  the  commander, 
Thomas  Brandreth :  three  of  the  finest  officers  that  ever  lived. 
The  captain  of  the  Fleet  was  Rear-Admiral  Sydney  C. 
Dacres,  C.B.  His  duties  were  those  of  what  we  should  now 
call  a  chief  of  staff.  The  office  was  subsequently  abolished  ; 
and  it  was  always  my  desire  to  see  it  restored. 

Ships  in  those  days  were  manned  according  to  the  number 
of  guns  they  carried.  The  theory  was  that  if  the  boats' 
crews  were  absent  from  the  ship,  there  should  always  be 
sufficient  men  on  board  to  work  the  sails  and  the  guns.  The 
watch-bills  were  made  out  upon  this  principle,  the  men  being 
distributed  among  what  were  called  the  "  parts  of  the  ship." 
In  the  case  of  a  newly  commissioned  ship,  the  making  out 
of  the  watch-bills  and  assigning  his  place  to  each  man,  was 
the  first  thing  to  be  done.  It  was  no  small  task,  especially 
as  no  printed  forms  were  supplied  for  the  purpose.  The 
watch-bills  were  ruled  and  entered  by  the  officers  on  paper 
supplied  by  themselves,  and  were  arranged  upon  the  tradition 
handed  down  for  centuries.  Even  the  signalmen  supplied 
their  own  pencils  and  paper.  Each  ship  made  its  own 
arrangement.  It  was  not  until  1860  that  uniform  watch-bills, 
quarter-bills  and  station-bills  were  instituted. 

The  men  were  classed  in  the  following  categories,  each 
"  part  of  the  ship  "  being  divided  into  port  watch  and  star- 
board watch. 

The  Forecastlemen 

The  Foretopmen 

The  Maintopmen 

The  Mizentopmen 

The  Gunners 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  13 

The  Afterguard 
The  Royal  Marines 
The  Idlers 

The  Forecastlemen  were  most  experienced  seamen.  They 
wore  their  caps  a  little  differently  from  the  others.  They 
manned  the  foreyard,  and  worked  the  foresail,  staysail,  jib, 
flying  jib,  jibboom,  flying  jibboom  and  lower  studdingsails. 

The  Foretopmen  worked  the  foretopsail,  foretopgallant 
and  foreroyal  yards,  foretopgallantmast,  foretopmast  and 
topgallant  studding-sails. 

The  Maintopmen  worked  the  maintopsail,  maintopgallant 
and  main-royal  yards  and  maintopgallantmast,  maintopmast 
and  topgallant  studding-sails. 

The  Mizentopmen  worked  the  mizentopsail,  mizentop- 
gallant  and  mizen-royal  yards,  and  mizentopgallantmast, 
mizentopmast  and  mizencourse  (if  there  was  one),  also  the 
driver. 

The  upper-yard  men  were  the  smartest  in  the  ship,  whose 
character  largely  depended  upon  them. 

The  Gunners,  assisted  by  the  Afterguard,  worked  the 
mainsail  and  mainyard.  These  were  generally  old  and  steady 
men,  who  were  not  very  quick  aloft.  The  gunners  were 
also  responsible  for  the  care  and  maintenance  of  the  gun 
gear,  side  tackles,  train  tackles  and  the  ammunition.  The 
senior  warrant  officer  was  the  gunner. 

There  were  only  three  warrant  officers: — gunner,  boat- 
swain and  carpenter. 

The  Royal  Marines  were  divided  between  fore  and  aft, 
working  on  forecastle  and  quarterdeck.  I  remember  seeing 
a  detachment  of  Marines,  upon  coming  aboard,  fallen  in 
while  the  blacksmith,  lifting  up  each  man's  foot  behind  him, 
wrenched  off  and  dropped  into  a  bucket  the  metal  on  the 
heel  of  his  boot,  lest  it  should  mark  the  deck. 

The  Afterguard  worked  on  the  quarterdeck  and  helped 
with  the  mainyard.  They  were  the  less  efficient  men  and 
were  therefore  employed  under  the  eye  of  the  commander. 


14     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  Idlers  were  not  idlers.  They  were  so  called  because 
(theoretically)  they  had  their  nights  in,  although  actually 
they  turned  out  at  four  o'clock  a.m.  They  were  artificers, 
such  as  carpenters,  caulkers,  plumbers,  blacksmiths,  etc. 
They  worked  all  day  at  their  several  trades  until  their  supper- 
time.  They  were  nearly  all  old  petty  officers,  steady  and 
respectable.  It  was  part  of  their  duty  to  man  the  pumps 
every  morning  for  washing  decks.  I  made  up  my  mind 
that,  if  ever  I  was  in  a  position  to  do  so,  I  would  relieve  them 
of  an  irksome  and  an  inappropriate  duty. 

In  action,  the  carpenters  worked  below  decks,  stopping 
holes  with  shot-plugs,  while  many  of  the  other  Idlers  worked 
in  the  magazines.  Among  the  Idlers  was  the  ship's  musician 
— unless  the  ship  carried  a  band — who  was  a  fiddler.  He 
used  to  play  to  the  men  on  the  forecastle  after  working  hours 
and  when  they  manned  the  capstan.  Personally  I  always 
considered  the  name  of  Idlers  to  be  anomalous.  They  are 
now  called  Daymen. 

Among  the  ship's  company  were  several  negroes.  At 
that  time,  it  was  often  the  case  that  the  captain  of  the  hold 
and  the  cooper  were  coloured  men. 

An  instance  of  the  rapidity  and  efficiency  of  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  Marlborougk  occurred  upon  the  night  before  she 
sailed  for  the  Mediterranean.  She  was  newly  commissioned, 
and  she  carried  a  large  number  of  supernumeraries  on 
passage.  We  took  out  1 500  all  told.  A  fire  broke  out  on 
the  orlop  deck ;  the  drum  beat  to  quarters ;  every  man 
instantly  went  to  his  station,  to  which  he  had  previously  been 
told  off;  and  the  fire  was  speedily  extinguished.  The  event 
was  my  first  experience  of  discipline  in  a  big  ship. 

The  nature  of  the  discipline  which  was  then  in  force,  I 
learned  on  the  way  out  to  the  Mediterranean.  In  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  discipline  was  exemplified  by  the  Royal 
Marines  alone.  I  cannot  better  convey  an  idea  of  the  old 
system  than  by  means  of  an  illustration.  Supposing  that  a 
Marine  and  a  bluejacket  had  each  committed  an  offence. 
The  Marine  was  brought  up  on  the  quarter-deck  before  the 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  15 

commander,  and  the  charge  was  read  to  him.  The 
commander  asked  him  what  he  had  to  say.  The  prisoner, 
standing  rigidly  to  attention,  embarked  upon  a  long  rambling 
explanation.  If  his  defence  were  invalid,  the  commander 
cut  him  short,  and  the  sergeant  gave  his  order.  "  Right 
turn.  Quick  march."  The  Marine,  although  continuing 
to  protest,  obeyed  automatically,  and  away  he  went.  He 
continued  to  talk  until  he  was  out  of  hearing,  but  he  went. 
Not  so  the  bluejacket.  He  did  not  stand  to  attention,  not 
he.  He  shifted  from  one  foot  to  the  other,  he  hitched  his 
breeches,  fiddled  with  his  cap,  scratched  his  head. 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  "  it  was  like  this  here,  sir,"  .  .  .  and 
he  began  to  spin  an  interminable  yarn. 

"  That'll  do,  my  man,"  quoth  the  commander.  But,  not 
at  all.  "  No,  sir,  look  here,  sir,  what  I  wants  to  say  is  this  " — 
and  so  on,  until  the  commander  had  to  order  a  file  of  Marines 
to  march  him  below. 

But  both  Marine  and  bluejacket  had  this  in  common : 
each  would  ask  the  commander  to  settle  the  matter  rather 
than  let  it  go  before  the  captain ;  and  the  captain,  to 
sentence  him  rather  than  hold  a  court-martial. 

The  explanation  of  the  difference  between  the  old  system 
of  discipline  and  the  new  is  that  in  the  sailing  days  it  was  of 
the  first  importance  that  the  seaman  should  be  capable  of 
instant  independent  action.  The  soldier's  uniformity  and 
military  precision  were  wholly  unsuited  to  the  sailor,  who,  at 
any  moment,  might  have  to  tackle  an  emergency  on  his  own 
initiative.  If  a  seaman  of  the  old  days  noticed  anything 
wrong  aloft,  up  he  would  run  to  put  it  right,  without  waiting 
for  orders.  Life  and  death  often  hung  upon  his  promptitude 
of  resource. 

In  the  old  days,  we  would  often  overhear  such  a  conver- 
sation as  the  following : — 

Officer :  "  Why  the  blank  dash  didn't  you  blank  well  do 
so-and-so  when  I  told  you  ?  " 

Man  :  "  Why  didn't  I  ?  Because  if  I  had  I  should  have 
been  blank  well  killed  and  so  would  you." 


1 6     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Officer :  "  Damn  you,  sir,  don't  you  answer  me !  I  shall 
put  you  in  the  report." 

Man :  "  Put  me  in  the  ruddy  report,  then." 

And  the  next  day  the  commander,  having  heard  both 
sides,  would  say  to  the  officer, 

"  Why,  the  man  was  quite  right."  And  to  the  man,  "  You 
had  no  right  to  argue  with  the  officer.  Don't  do  it  again. 
Now  get  away  with  you  to  hell." 

And  everyone  would  part  the  best  of  friends. 

The  change  came  with  the  improvement  and  progress  in 
gunnery,  which  involved,  first,  the  better  drilling  of  the  small- 
arm  companies.  In  my  early  days,  the  small-arm  companies 
used  to  drill  with  bare  feet.  Indeed,  boots  were  never  worn 
on  board.  It  was  of  course  impossible  to  wear  boots  going 
aloft,  for  a  sailor  going  aloft  in  boots  would  injure  the  heads 
and  hands  of  his  topmates.  Occasionally  the  midshipmen 
went  aloft  barefooted  like  the  men.  So  indurated  did  the 
feet  of  the  sailors  become,  that  they  were  unable  to  wear 
boots  without  discomfort,  and  often  carried  them  when  they 
were  ashore. 

A  sailor's  offences  were  hardly  ever  crimes  against  honour. 
They  rather  arose  from  the  character  induced  by  his  calling. 
Its  conditions  were  hard,  dangerous  and  often  intensely 
exciting.  The  sailor's  view  was  devil-may-care.  He  was 
free  with  his  language,  handy  with  his  fists  and  afraid  of 
nothing.  A  smart  man  might  receive  four  dozen  for  some 
violence,  and  be  rated  petty  officer  six  months  afterwards. 
Condemnation  was  then  the  rule.  Personally,  I  endeavoured 
to  substitute  for  it,  commendation.  For  if  there  are  two 
men,  one  of  whom  takes  a  pride  in  (say)  keeping  his  rifle 
clean,  and  the  other  neglects  it,  to  ignore  the  efficiency  of 
the  one  is  both  to  discourage  him  and  to  encourage  the  other. 

Before  the  system  of  silence  was  introduced  by  the 
Marlborough  the  tumult  on  deck  during  an  evolution  or 
exercise  was  tremendous.  The  shouting  in  the  ships  in 
Malta  Harbour  could  be  heard  all  over  Valetta.  The 
Marlborough  introduced  the  "Still"  bugle-call.  At  the 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  17 

bugle-call  "Still"  every  man  stood  motionless  and  looked 
at  the  officer.  For  in  order  to  have  an  order  understood, 
the  men  must  be  looking  at  the  officer  who  gives  it.  During 
the  Soudan  war,  I  used  the  "  Still "  at  several  critical 
moments.  Silence  and  attention  are  the  first  necessities  for 
discipline.  About  this  time  the  bugle  superseded  the  drum 
in  many  ships  for  routine  orders. 

There  were  few  punishments,  the  chief  punishment  being 
the  cat  The  first  time  I  saw  the  cat  applied,  I  fainted. 
But  men  were  constantly  being  flogged.  I  have  seen  six 
men  flogged  in  one  morning.  Even  upon  these  painful 
occasions,  the  crew  were  not  fallen  in.  They  were  merely 
summoned  aft  "  for  punishment" — "clear  lower  deck  lay  aft 
for  punishment "  was  piped — and  grouped  themselves  as  they 
would,  sitting  in  the  boats  and  standing  about,  nor  did  they 
even  keep  silence  while  the  flogging  was  being  inflicted. 
The  officers  stood  within  three  sides  of  a  square  formed  by 
the  Marines.  Another  punishment  was  "  putting  the  admiral 
in  his  barge  and  the  general  in  his  helmet,"  when  one  man 
was  stood  in  a  bucket  and  the  other  had  a  bucket  on  his 
head. 

Very  great  credit  is  due  to  Admiral  Sir  William  Martin, 
who  reformed  the  discipline  of  the  Fleet.  The  Naval  Dis- 
cipline Act  was  passed  in  1861;  the  New  Naval  Discipline 
Act  in  1866.  In  1871  a  circular  was  issued  restricting  the 
infliction  of  corporal  punishment  in  peace  time.  Flogging 
was  virtually  abolished  in  1879.  (Laird  Clowes'  The  Royal 
Navy,  vol.  7.)  Now  we  have  proper  discipline  and  no  cat. 
In  former  days,  we  had  the  cat  but  no  proper  discipline. 

The  men  were  granted  very  little  leave.  They  were  often 
on  board  for  months  together.  When  they  went  ashore, 
there  they  remained  until  they  had  spent  their  last  penny ; 
and  when  they  came  on  board  they  were  either  drunk  or 
shamming  drunk.  For  drunkenness  was  the  fashion  then, 
just  as  sobriety  is,  happily,  the  fashion  now.  In  order  to  be 
in  the  mode,  a  man  would  actually  feign  drunkenness  on 
coming  aboard.  In  many  a  night-watch  after  leave  had  been 

VOL.  I. — 2 


1 8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

given  have  I  superintended  the  hoisting  in  of  drunken  men, 
who  were  handed  over  to  the  care  of  their  messmates.  To- 
day, an  intoxicated  man  is  not  welcomed  by  his  mess,  his 
comrades  preferring  that  he  should  be  put  out  of  the  way  in 
cells.  It  was  impossible  to  keep  liquor  out  of  the  ship.  Men 
would  bring  it  aboard  in  little  bladders  concealed  in  their 
neckties.  Excess  was  the  rule  in  many  ships.  On 
Christmas  Day,  for  instance,  it  was  not  advisable  for  an 
officer  to  go  on  the  lower  deck,  which  was  given  up  to  license. 
I  remember  one  man  who  ate  and  drank  himself  to  death  on 
Christmas  Day.  There  he  lay,  beside  a  gun,  dead.  Other 
cases  of  the  same  kind  occurred  in  other  ships. 

The  rations  were  so  meagre  that  hunger  induced  the  men 
constantly  to  chew  tobacco.  For  the  same  reason  I  chewed 
tobacco  myself  as  a  boy.  Nor  have  I  ever  been  able  to 
understand  how  on  such  insufficient  and  plain  diet  the  men 
were  so  extraordinarily  hardy.  They  used  to  go  aloft  and 
remain  aloft  for  hours,  reefing  sails,  when  a  gale  was  blowing 
with  snow  and  sleet,  clad  only  in  flannel  (vest)  serge  frock  and 
cloth  or  serge  trousers,  their  heads,  arms  and  lower  part  of 
their  legs  bare.  Then  they  would  go  below  to  find  the  decks 
awash  in  a  foot  of  water,  the  galley  fire  extinguished,  nothing 
to  eat  until  next  meal  time  but  a  biscuit,  and  nothing  to 
drink  but  water. 

Seamen  often  curse  and  swear  when  they  are  aloft 
furling  or  reefing  sails  in  a  gale  of  wind ;  but  I  have  never 
heard  a  sailor  blaspheme  on  these  occasions.  Their  language 
aloft  is  merely  a  mode  of  speaking.  Although  in  the  old 
days  I  have  heard  men  blaspheme  on  deck,  blasphemy  was 
never  heard  aloft  in  a  gale.  To  be  aloft  in  a  whole  gale  or  in 
a  hurricane  impresses  the  mind  with  a  sense  of  the  almighty 
power  of  the  Deity,  and  the  insignificance  of  man,  that  puny 
atom,  compared  with  the  vast  forces  of  the  elements. 

In  later  life,  I  once  said  to  a  young  man  whom  I  heard 
using  blasphemous  language  in  a  club : 

"If  you  were  up  with  me  on  the  weather  yard-arm  of  a 
topsail  yard  reefing  topsails  in  a  whole  gale,  you  would  be 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  19 

afraid  to  say  what  you  are  saying  now.  You  would  see 
what  a  little  puny  devil  a  man  is,  and  although  you  might 
swear,  you  would  be  too  great  a  coward  to  blaspheme." 

And  I  went  on  to  ram  the  lesson  home  with  some 
forcible  expressions,  a  method  of  reproof  which  amused 
the  audience,  but  which  effectually  silenced  the  blasphemer. 

The  fact  is,  there  is  a  deep  sense  of  religion  in  those  who 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships  and  do  their  business  in  the 
great  waters.  Every  minister  of  God,  irrespective  of  the 
denomination  to  which  he  belongs,  is  treated  with  respect. 
And  a  good  chaplain,  exercising  tact  and  knowing  how  to 
give  advice,  does  invaluable  service  in  a  ship,  and  is  a  great 
help  in  maintaining  sound  discipline,  inasmuch  as  by  virtue 
of  his  position  he  can  discover  and  remove  little  misunder- 
standings which  cause  discontent  and  irritation. 

The  discomforts  of  the  Old  Navy  are  unknown  to  the 
new.  The  sanitary  appliances,  for  instance,  were  placed 
right  forward  in  the  bows,  in  the  open  air.  If  the  sea  were 
rough  they  could  not  be  used.  On  these  occasions,  the  state 
of  the  lower  deck  may  with  more  discretion  be  imagined  than 
described.  As  the  ship  rolled,  the  water  leaked  in  through  the 
rebated  joints  of  the  gun-ports,  and  as  long  as  a  gale  lasted  the 
mess-decks  were  no  better  than  cesspools.  It  is  a  curious1  fact 
that  in  spite  of  all  these  things,  the  spirits  of  both  officers 
and  men  rose  whenever  it  came  on  to  blow ;  and  the  harder 
it  blew,  the  more  cheery  everyone  became.  The  men  sang 
most  under  stress  of  weather ;  just  as  they  will  to-day  under 
the  same  conditions  or  while  coaling  ship.  After  a  gale  of 
wind,  the  whole  ship's  company  turned-to  to  clean  the  ship. 

In  those  days  the  men  used  to  dress  in  cloth  trousers 
and  tunic  with  buttons.  The  men  used  to  embroider  their 
collars  and  their  fronts  with  most  elaborate  and  beautiful 
designs,  They  had  two  hats,  a  black  hat  and  a  white  hat, 
which  they  made  themselves.  The  black  hats  were  made  of 
straw  covered  with  duck  and  painted.  Many  a  man  has  lost 
his  life  aloft  in  trying  to  save  his  heavy  black  hat  from  being 
blown  away. 


20     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  fashion  of  wearing  hair  on  the  face  was  to  cultivate 
luxuriant  whiskers,  and  to  "  leave  a  gangway,"  which  meant 
shaving  upper  lip,  chin  and  neck.  Later,  Mr.  Childers  intro- 
duced a  new  order :  a  man  might  shave  clean,  or  cultivate  all 
growth,  or  leave  a  gangway  as  before,  but  he  might  not  wear 
a  moustache  only.  The  order,  which  applied  to  officers  and 
men  (except  the  Royal  Marines)  is  still  in  force. 

Steam  was  never  used  except  under  dire  necessity,  or 
when  entering  harbour,  or  when  exercising  steam  tactics  as  a 
Fleet.  The  order  to  raise  steam  cast  a  gloom  over  the 
entire  ship.  The  chief  engineer  laboured  under  considerable 
difficulties.  He  was  constantly  summoned  on  deck  to  be 
forcibly  condemned  for  "  making  too  much  smoke." 

We  were  very  particular  about  our  gunnery  in  the  Marl- 
borough  \  although  at  the  same  time  gunnery  was  regarded 
as  quite  a  secondary  art.  It  was  considered  that  anyone 
could  fire  a  gun,  and  that  the  whole  credit  of  successful 
gunnery  depended  upon  the  seamanship  of  the  sailors  who 
brought  the  ship  into  the  requisite  position.  The  greater 
number  of  the  guns  in  the  Marlborough  were  the  same  as 
those  used  in  the  time  of  Nelson,  with  their  wooden  trucks, 
handspikes,  sponges,  rammers,  worms  and  all  gear  complete. 
The  Marlborough  was  fitted  with  a  cupola  for  heating  round- 
shot,  which  were  carried  red-hot  to  the  gun  in  an  iron 
bucket.  I  know  of  no  other  ship  which  was  thus  equipped. 

The  gunnery  lieutenant  of  the  Marlborough,  Charles 
Inglis,  was  gifted  with  so  great  and  splendid  a  voice,  that, 
when  he  gave  his  orders  from  the  middle  deck,  they  were 
heard  at  every  gun  in  the  ship.  We  used  to  practise  firing 
at  a  cliff  in  Malta  Harbour,  at  a  range  of  a  hundred  yards 
or  so.  I  used  to  be  sent  on  shore  to  collect  the  round-shot 
and  bring  them  on  board  for  future  use.  I  remember  that 
when,  in  the  course  of  a  lecture  delivered  to  my  men  on 
board  the  Bulwark  more  than  forty  years  afterwards,  I 
related  the  incident,  I  could  see  by  their  faces  that  my 
audience  did  not  believe  me  ;  though  I  showed  to  them  the 
shot-holes  in  the  face  of  the  cliff,  which  remain  to  this  day. 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  21 

On  gunnery  days,  all  fires  were  extinguished,  in  case  a  spark 
should  ignite  the  loose  powder  spilt  by  the  boys  who  brought 
the  cartridges  to  the  guns,  making  a  trail  to  the  magazines. 
At  "  night  quarters,"  we  were  turned  out  of  our  hammocks, 
which  were  lashed  up.  The  mess-tables  were  triced  up 
overhead.  The  lower-deck  ports  being  closed,  there  was  no 
room  to  wield  the  wooden  rammer;  so  that  the  charges  for 
the  muzzle-loading  guns  were  rammed  home  with  rope 
rammers.  Before  the  order  to  fire  was  given,  the  ports  were 
triced  up.  Upon  one  occasion,  so  anxious  was  a  bluejacket 
to  be  first  in  loading  and  firing,  that  he  cherished  a  charge 
hidden  in  his  hammock  since  the  last  night  quarters,  a  period 
of  nearly  three  months,  and,  firing  before  the  port  was  triced 
up,  blew  it  into  the  next  ship. 

In  those  days,  the  master  was  responsible  for  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  ship.  He  was  an  old,  wily,  experienced  seaman, 
who  had  entered  the  Service  as  master's  mate.  (When  I 
was  midshipman  in  the  Defence,  the  master's  assistant  was 
Richard  W.  Middleton,  afterwards  Captain  Middleton,  chief 
organiser  of  the  Conservative  Central  Office.)  The  master  laid 
the  course  and  kept  the  reckoning.  As  steam  replaced  sails, 
the  office  of  master  was  transferred  to  the  navigating  officer, 
a  lieutenant  who  specialised  in  navigation.  The  transforma- 
tion was  effected  by  the  Order  in  Council  of  26th  June,  1867. 

The  sail-drill  in  the  Marlborough  was  a  miracle  of 
smartness  and  speed.  The  spirit  of  emulation  in  the  Fleet 
was  furious.  The  fact  that  a  certain  number  of  men  used 
to  be  killed,  seemed  to  quicken  the  rivalry.  Poor  Inman,  a 
midshipman  in  the  Marlborough,  a  great  friend  of  mine,  his 
foot  slipping  as  he  was  running  down  from  aloft,  lost  his 
life.  His  death  was  a  great  shock  to  me. 

The  men  would  run  aloft  so  quickly  that  their  bare  feet 
were  nearly  indistinguishable.  Topmasts  and  lower  yard 
were  sent  down  and  sent  up  at  a  pace  which  to-day  is 
inconceivable. 

I  once  saw  the  captain  of  the  maintop  hurl  himself  bodily 
down  from  the  cap  upon  a  hand  in  the  top  who  was  slow  in 


22     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

obeying  orders.  That  reckless  topman  was  Martin  Schultz, 
a  magnificent  seaman,  who  was  entered  by  the  captain 
direct  from  the  Norwegian  merchant  service,  in  which  he 
had  been  a  mate. 

Mr.  George  Lewis,  an  old  topmate  of  mine,  who  was  one 
of  the  smartest  seamen  on  board  H.M.S.  Marlborough,  has 
kindly  sent  to  me  the  following  interesting  details  with 
regard  to  the  times  of  sail-drill  and  the  risks  incidental  to 
the  evolutions. 

Time  allowed      Time  in 
by  Admiral.  Afarlborough. 

Min.  Sec.  Min.  Sec. 

Cross  topgallant  and  royal  yards  .         .     I       o  o    30 

Down  topgallant  yards  with  royal  yards  across       .20  I     1 3 
Up  topgallant  mast,  cross  upper  yards  and  loose 

sails 2     30  I     27 

Shift  topgallant  masts  from  royal  yards  across        .70  54° 

Up  topgallant  mast  and  make  all  plain  sail   .         .40  2     40 

Up  topgallant  mast  and  make  all  possible  sail        .60  3      ° 

Shift  topsails  from  plainsail  .         .         .         .         .60  4     50 

In  all  boom  boats  from  away  aloft         .         .         .70  60 

Out  all  boom  boats 7      o  5     40 

Away  lifeboat's  crew o     30  o    20 

What  Mr.  Lewis  means  by  "admiral's  time,"  let  him 
explain  in  his  own  words.  "  When  our  admiral "  (Sir 
William  Martin)  "  was  captain  of  the  Prince  Regent,  which 
was  considered  the  smartest  ship  in  the  Navy,  he  brought 
all  her  times  of  all  her  drills  to  the  grand  old  Marlborough 
along  with  him ;  and  you  know,  my  lord,  that  he  allowed 
us  six  months  to  get  our  good  old  ship  in  trim  before  we 
drilled  along  with  the  Fleet ;  but  we  started  to  drill  along  with 
the  Fleet  after  three  months,  and  were  able  to  beat  them  all." 
'  Now,  my  lord,"  continues  Mr.  Lewis,  "  I  come  to  one 
of  the  smartest  bits  of  our  drill.  When  we  were  sailing  in 
the  Bay  of  Naples  under  all  possible  sail,  our  captain  wanted 
to  let  the  world  see  what  a  smart  ship  he  had  and  what  a 
smart  lot  of  men  was  under  him.  From  the  order  '  Shift 
topsails  and  courses  make  all  possible  sail  again ' " — which 
really  means  that  the  masts  were  stripped  of  sails  and  again 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  23 

all  sails  were  hoisted — "Admiral's  time  13  minutes,  our  time 
9  minutes  30  seconds.  All  went  without  a  hitch,  within  400 
yards  of  our  anchorage." 

Mr.  Lewis  proceeds  to  recount  a  very  daring  act  of  his 
own.  "  We  were  sending  down  upper  yards  and  topgallant 
mast  one  evening,  and  it  was  my  duty  to  make  fast  the 
lizard.  But  I  could  only  make  fast  one  hitch,  so  I  slid  down 
the  mast  rope  and  it  turned  me  right  over,  but  I  managed  to 
catch  the  lizard  and  hold  on  to  it,  and  so  saved  the  mast 
from  falling  on  the  hundred  men  that  were  in  the  gangway. 
No  doubt  if  it  had  fallen  on  them  it  would  have  killed  a 
good  many.  .  .  ." 

What  happened  was  that  Lewis,  in  the  tearing  speed  of 
the  evolution,  not  having  time  properly  to  secure  the  head 
of  the  mast  as  it  was  coming  down,  held  the  fastening  in 
place  while  clinging  to  the  mast  rope  and  so  came  hurtling 
down  with  the  mast.  He  adds  that  he  "  felt  very  proud  " — 
and  well  he  might — when  the  captain  "  told  the  admiral  on 
Sunday  that  I  was  the  smartest  man  aloft  that  he  had  ever 
seen  during  his  time  in  the  Service."  He  had  an  even 
narrower  escape.  "  I  was  at  the  yard-arm  when  we  had 
just  crossed  "  (hoisted  into  place).  "  I  was  pulling  down  the 
royal  sheet  and  someone  had  let  it  go  on  deck,  and  I  fell 
backwards  off  the  yard  head-foremost.  I  had  my  arm 
through  the  strop  of  the  jewel  block,  and  it  held  me,  and 
dropped  me  in  the  topmast  rigging,  and  some  of  my  top- 
mates  caught  me." 

Mr.  Lewis  himself  was  one  of  the  smartest  and  quickest 
men  aloft  I  have  ever  seen  during  the  whole  of  my  career. 
The  men  of  other  ships  used  to  watch  him  going  aloft.  "  My 
best  time,"  he  writes — and  I  can  confirm  his  statement — 
"  from  '  'way  aloft '  to  the  topgallant  yard-arm  was  1 3 
seconds,  which  was  never  beaten."  It  was  equalled,  however, 
by  Ninepin  Jones  on  the  foretopgallant  yard.  The  top- 
gallant and  royal  yard  men  started  from  the  maintop,  inside 
of  the  topmast  rigging,  at  the  order  "'way  aloft."  The 
height  to  be  run  from  the  top,  inside  of  the  topmast  rigging, 


24     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

to  the  topgallant  yard-arm  was  64  feet.  From  the  deck  to 
the  maintop  was  67  feet.  At  one  time,  the  upper-yard 
men  used  to  start  from  the  deck  at  the  word  "away 
aloft";  but  the  strain  of  going  aloft  so  high  and  at  so 
great  a  speed  injured  their  hearts  and  lungs,  so  that  they 
ascended  first  to  the  top,  and  there  awaited  the  order 
"  away  aloft" 

The  orders  were  therefore  altered.  They  were:  first, 
"  midshipmen  aloft,"  when  the  midshipmen  went  aloft  to 
the  tops  ;  second,  "  upper-yard  men  aloft,"  when  the  upper- 
yard  men  went  aloft  to  the  tops,  and  one  midshipman  went 
from  the  top  to  the  masthead. 

At  the  evening  or  morning  evolution  of  sending  down 
or  up  topgallant  masts  and  topgallant  and  royal  yards,  only 
the  upper-yard  men  received  the  order,  "upper-yard  men 
in  the  tops."  The  next  order  was  "  away  aloft,"  the  upper- 
yard  men  going  to  the  masthead. 

At  general  drill,  requiring  lower-  and  topsail-yard  men 
aloft,  as  well  as  upper-yard  men,  the  orders  were  :  first, 
"  midshipmen  aloft " ;  then  "  upper-yard  men  in  the  tops  "  ; 
then,  "  away  aloft,"  when  the  lower-  and  topsail-yard  men 
went  aloft  to  the  topsail  and  lower  yards,  and  the  upper-yard 
men  went  aloft  to  the  masthead. 

These  arrangements  applied  of  course  only  to  drill.  In 
the  event  of  a  squall  or  an  emergency,  the  men  went  straight 
from  deck  to  the  topgallant  and  royal  yards. 

Mr.  Lewis's  performance  was  a  marvel.  Writing  to  me 
fifty  years  afterwards,  he  says  : — "  I  think,  my  lord,  it 
would  take  me  a  little  longer  than  13  seconds  now  to  get 
to  the  maintopgallant  yard-arm  and  run  in  again  without 
holding  on  to  anything,  which  I  have  done  many  hundreds 
of  times." 

The  men  would  constantly  run  thus  along  the  yards — 
upon  which  the  jackstay  is  secured,  to  which  again  the  sail  is 
bent,  so  that  the  footing  is  uneven — while  the  ship  was 
rolling.  Sometimes  they  would  fall,  catching  the  yard,  and 
so  save  themselves. 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  25 

The  foretopgallant-yard  man,  Jones,  was  as  smart  as 
Lewis,  though  he  never  beat  Lewis's  record  time.  These 
two  men  were  always  six  to  ten  ratlines  ahead  of  the  other 
yard  men,  smart  men  as  these  were.  One  day  Jones  lost  a 
toe  aloft.  It  was  cut  clean  off  by  the  fid  of  the  fore- 
topgallant  mast.  But  Jones  continued  his  work  as  though 
nothing  had  happened,  until  the  drill  was  ended,  when  he 
hopped  down  to  the  sick  bay.  He  was  as  quick  as  ever 
after  the  accident ;  and  the  sailors  called  him  Ninepin 
Jack. 

Another  old  topmate,  Mr.  S.  D.  Sharp,  writing  to  me  in 
1909,  when  I  hauled  down  my  flag,  says : — "  I  was  proud  of 
the  old  Marlborough  and  her  successor  up  the  Straits,  the 
Victoria.  They  were  a  noble  sight  in  full  sail  with  a  stiff 
breeze.  No  doubt  the  present  fleet  far  excels  the  old  wooden 
walls,  but  the  old  wooden  walls  made  sailors.  But  sailors 
to-day  have  to  stand  aside  for  engine-men.  Going  round 
Portsmouth  dockyard  some  few  years  since,  I  was  very  sad  to 
see  the  noble  old  Marlborough  a  hulk  "  (she  is  now  part  of 
H.M.S.  Vernon  Torpedo  School),  "  laid  aside,  as  I  expect  we 
all  shall  be  in  time  "  (Mr.  Sharp  is  only  between  seventy  and 
eighty  years  of  age).  "  I  am  doubtful  if  there  are  many  men 
in  the  Navy  to-day  who  would  stand  bolt  upright  upon  the 
royal  truck  of  a  line-of-battle  ship.  I  was  one  of  those  who 
did  so.  Perhaps  a  foolish  practice.  But  in  those  days  fear 
never  came  our  way." 

There  speaks  the  Old  Navy. 

When  a  ship  was  paid  off  out  of  Malta  Harbour,  it  was 
the  custom  that  there  should  be  a  man  standing  erect  on  each 
of  the  trucks,  main,  mizen  and  fore.  Many  a  time  have  I  seen 
these  men,  balanced  more  than  200  feet  in  the  air,  strip  off 
their  shirts  and  wave  them.  And  once  I  saw  a  man  holding 
to  the  vane-spindle  set  in  the  truck,  and  I  saw  the  spindle 
break  in  his  hand,  and  the  man  fall.  .  .  . 

In  the  course  of  my  experience,  I  have  seen  a  man  fall 
off  the  main-royal  yard,  be  caught  in  the  belly  of  the  main- 
sail, slip  down  the  sail,  catch  the  second  reef-line  with  his 


26     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

legs,  and  hold  on  until  a  topmate  ran  aloft  with  a  bowline 
and  saved  him. 

I  have  seen  a  man  fall  off  the  maintopsail  yard,  and  be 
caught  in  the  bight  of  the  mainsheet  in  the  main  rigging, 
and  run  aloft  again.  And  this  was  at  sea. 

And  several  times  I  have  seen  a  man  fall  from  aloft  to  be 
dashed  to  pieces  upon  the  deck. 

One  of  the  closest  escapes  I  have  ever  had  occurred  aloft 
in  the  Marlborough.  Being  midshipman  of  the  mizen- 
royal,  I  was  furling  the  sail,  leaning  forward  upon  the  yard, 
gathering  in  the  canvas,  my  feet  braced  backward  upon  the 
footrope,  when  another  midshipman,  leaping  upon  the 
footrope,  accidentally  knocked  it  from  under  my  feet.  For 
two  or  three  seconds  I  hung  by  the  tips  of  my  ringers,  which 
were  pressed  against  the  jackstay  of  the  mizen-royal  yard 
(the  rope  running  taut  along  the  top  of  the  yard  to  which 
the  sail  is  bent)  under  which  I  could  not  push  my  fingers, 
and  then,  at  the  last  moment,  I  found  the  footrope  again.  I 
have  never  forgotten  my  feelings,  when  I  saw  certain  death 
approaching  while  my  feet  were  clawing  about  for  the 
footrope. 

When  the  hands  were  turned  out  to  bathe,  John  Glanville, 
chief  boatswain's  mate,  would  go  up  to  the  main-yard,  stand 
with  one  foot  on  the  yard  and  the  other  on  the  preventive 
braceblock,  and  thence  take  a  header.  The  height  was 
between  50  and  60  feet.  Once  he  struck  the  sea  sideways, 
and  was  injured,  so  that  he  was  never  quite  the  same  man 
afterwards.  But  any  other  man  would  have  been  killed. 

On  another  occasion,  when  the  ship  was  hove-to  for  the 
hands  to  bathe,  the  captain  of  the  forecastle  hauled  the  jib 
sheet  aft,  and  the  ship  began  to  glide  away  from  the  officers 
and  men,  myself  among  them,  in  the  water.  Luckily  all  got 
on  board  again. 

In  the  spirit  of  emulation,  I  fell  into  deserved  disgrace  at 
sail-drill.  In  order  to  be  first  in  the  evolution,  I  secretly 
unbent  the  foretopgallant  sheet  before  the  men  arrived  at 
the  masthead.  Another  midshipman  did  likewise  at  the 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  27 

main.  He  was  Arthur  Gresley,  one  of  the  smartest  mid- 
shipmen aloft,  and  one  of  the  best  oars  in  the  Service,  a 
splendid,  cheery,  chivalrous,  noble-minded  lad.  We  were 
discovered ;  and,  before  all  the  men,  we  were  ordered  down 
on  deck,  and  were  severely  reprimanded  for  having  en- 
deavoured to  gain  an  unfair  advantage,  thereby  staining  the 
character  of  a  ship  justly  noted  for  her  scrupulous  fair  play. 
I  was  taken  out  of  my  top,  deprived  of  the  command  of  my 
boat,  and  disrated  to  cadet;  and  I  had  serious  thoughts  of 
ending  a  ruined  career  by  jumping  overboard.  I  have  never 
been  so  genuinely  unhappy  before  or  since.  But  upon  the 
following  day  I  was  rated  up  again,  and  replaced  in  my 
top  and  my  boat. 

At  first  in  the  Marlborougk  I  was  midshipman  of  the 
mizentop,  and  in  charge  of  the  jolly-boat.  The  midshipman 
in  charge  of  a  boat  learned  how  to  handle  men.  As  he  was 
away  from  the  ship  with  them  for  long  periods,  he  was 
forced  to  understand  them  and  to  discover  how  to  treat 
them,  thus  learning  the  essential  elements  of  administration. 
As  all  my  delight  was  in  seamanship,  I  contrived  to  miss  a 
good  deal  of  school.  It  was  not  difficult,  when  the  naval 
instructor  desired  my  presence,  to  find  a  good  reason  for 
duty  with  my  boat.  I  was  afterwards  midshipman  of  the 
foretop,  and  when  I  was  promoted  from  the  jolly-boat  to 
the  second  pinnace,  and  to  the  command  of  the  first  sub- 
division of  the  three-pounder  division  of  field-guns  for 
landing,  being  placed  in  charge  of  one  three-pounder  gun,  I 
thought  I  was  an  emperor. 

We  used  to  land  with  the  guns  for  field-battery  exercises, 
setting  Marine  sentries  all  round  to  prevent  the  men  getting 
away  to  drink.  Returning  on  board,  we  used  to  race  down 
the  Calcara  Hill  at  Malta  to  the  harbour.  On  one  occasion, 
we  were  going  so  fast  that  we  couldn't  turn  the  gun  round 
the  corner,  and  gun  and  all  toppled  over  the  wharf  into  the 
water. 

I  fell  into  another  scrape  in  excess  of  zeal  for  marks- 
manship. We  used  to  practise  aiming  with  rifles  and 


28     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

muzzle-loading  Enfields,  the  Service  rifle  of  that  day.  We 
fired  percussion  caps  without  charges,  at  little  bull's-eyes 
painted  on  a  strip  of  canvas,  which  was  stretched  along  the 
bulwarks  below  the  hammock-nettings.  The  marksman 
stood  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  deck.  Another  midshipman 
and  myself  contrived  to  fire  a  couple  of  caps  as  projectiles, 
which  of  course  entered  the  woodwork  behind  the  targets, 
making  dreadful  holes.  This  appalling  desecration,  involving 
the  fitting  in  of  new  planking,  was  discovered  by  the 
commander,  Brandreth.  His  rage  was  justifiable.  We 
were  stood  on  the  bitts,  and  also  mastheaded. 

Captain  Houston  Stewart  used  to  fish  from  the  stern 
gallery  when  the  ship  was  at  anchor.  He  tied  his  line  to 
the  rail,  and  went  back  into  his  cabin,  returning  every  few 
minutes  to  see  if  he  had  a  fish.  Beneath  the  stern  gallery 
opened  the  ports  of  the  gunroom.  With  a  hooked  stick 
I  drew  in  his  line,  attached  a  red  herring  to  the  hook, 
dropped  it  in  again,  and  when  the  captain  came  to  feel  his 
line  I  jerked  it.  He  hauled  it  up  in  a  hurry.  Instantly 
after,  he  sent  for  all  the  midshipmen ;  and,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  he  picked  me  out  at  once. 

"  You  did  that,  Beresford,"  he  said.  "  Most  impertinent ! 
Your  leave  will  be  stopped." 

Next  day,  however,  he  let  me  off. 

Among  the  most  delightful  incidents  were  the  boat- 
races.  It  was  before  the  time  when  fleet  regattas  were 
instituted.  What  happened  was  that  a  boat  would  row 
round  from  their  ship,  to  the  ship  they  wished  to  race, 
and  toss  oars  under  her  bows  in  sign  of  a  challenge. 
Then  the  boat's  crew  of  the  challenged  ship  would  practise 
with  intense  assiduity  until  they  felt  they  were  fit  to  meet 
the  enemy.  The  bitterest  feeling  was  aroused.  Even  the 
crews  of  "chummy  ships"  could  not  meet  without  fighting. 
Hundreds  of  pounds  were  wagered  on  the  event.  In  the 
Marlborough  we  had  the  cutter,  Black  Bess,  specially  built 
for  racing.  Her  stroke  was  John  Glanville,  the  gigantic 
boatswain's  mate,  who,  when  I  joined  the  ship,  told  Dicky 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  29 

Home,  the  quartermaster,  that  I  was  not  likely  to  live 
long.  He  was  the  son  of  Ann  Glanville,  the  redoubtable 
West  country  woman  who  pulled  stroke  in  the  crew  of 
Saltash  women  that  raced  and  beat  a  crew  of  Frenchmen 
at  Cherbourg,  under  the  eyes  of  the  Queen,  the  Prince 
Consort,  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  and  the  British  and 
French  navies.  That  notable  victory  was  won  in  1858, 
when  Queen  Victoria,  accompanied  by  the  Prince  Consort, 
visited  Napoleon  III.  The  Queen  and  the  Prince  sailed 
in  H.M.S.  Victoria  and  Albert,  escorted  by  a  squadron 
of  men-of-war.  They  were  received  by  the  French  Navy. 
After  the  race,  the  Queen  invited  the  Saltash  women  on 
board  the  Royal  yacht.  Later  in  life,  it  was  my  privilege 
to  remove  anxiety  concerning  her  livelihood  from  fine  old 
Mrs.  Glanville. 

I  steered  the  Black  Bess,  and  we  beat  the  two  best  boats 
in  the  Fleet ;  and  then  we  were  challenged  by  the  St.  George. 
The  St.  George  had  taken  the  upper  strake  off  her  boat  to 
make  her  row  easier.  Now  the  stroke  of  the  St.  George 
was  George  Glanville,  brother  to  John,  and  of  the  same 
formidable  weight  and  size.  The  race  was  rowed  in  Malta 
Harbour,  over  a  3^-mile  course,  and  we  were  beaten.  We 
could  not  understand  it ;  but  beaten  we  were.  That  night 
George  Glanville  came  aboard  the  Marlborough  with  a  bag 
containing  some  ^300,  the  money  put  up  to  cover  the 
stakes.  George  came  to  receive  the  stakes,  and  according  to 
custom  he  brought  the  cover-money  to  show  that  all  was 
above-board.  To  him  came  John  his  brother ;  and  scarce  a 
word  was  said  ere  the  two  big  men  were  fighting  furiously, 
the  bag  of  gold  on  the  deck  beside  them.  They  were  torn 
apart  with  difficulty.  Nor  could  the  respective  crews  be 
landed  together  for  a  long  time  afterwards.  Next  year  we 
beat  the  St.  George. 

When  we  lay  in  Corfu  Harbour,  the  Marlborough  was 
challenged  by  a  crew  of  artillerymen.  It  was  I  think  on 
this  occasion  that  John  Glanville  headed  a  deputation  to  me, 
asking  me  to  be  the  coxswain. 


30     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

"Well,  sir,"  he  said,  "it's  like  this  here,  sir,  if  you'll 
pardon  me.  Yew  be  young-like,  and  what  we  was  thinking 
was  whether  you  have  the  power  of  language  that  du  be 
required." 

I  said  I  would  do  my  best.  I  did.  I  astonished  my- 
self. As  for  the  artillerymen,  they  rowed  themselves 
right  under.  There  was  a  little  seaway,  and  they  rowed 
the  boat  under  and  there  they  were  struggling  in  the 
water. 

"  What !  Yew  bain't  never  going  to  pick  'em  up  ?  "  cried 
John  Glanville,  in  the  heat  of  his  excitement. 

I  also  rowed  bow-oar  in  the  officers'  boat,  the  second 
cutter.  I  was  young  and  small,  but  I  had  great  staying 
power.  I  could  go  on  rowing  for  ever. 

When  my  leave  was  stopped — which  did  occur  occasion- 
ally— I  had  a  system  by  means  of  which  I  went  ashore  at 
night.  I  lashed  a  hammock-lashing  round  the  port  stern- 
ring,  crawled  out  of  the  stern  port,  lowered  myself  to  the 
water,  and  swam  to  a  shore  boat,  waiting  for  me  by  arrange- 
ment. Maltese  boats  are  partly  covered  in,  and  I  dressed 
in  a  spare  suit  of  clothes.  On  one  occasion,  upon  landing, 
I  nearly — but  not  quite  —  ran  into  the  arms  of  the 
commander. 

One  night  I  went  ashore,  taking  a  painter  and  two  men. 
We  lowered  the  painter  over  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  and  he 
inscribed  on  the  cliff  in  immense  letters, " '  Marlborough,'  Star 
of  the  Mediterranean."  Next  morning  the  whole  Fleet, 
not  without  emotion,  beheld  the  legend.  Another  brilliant 
wit  went  ashore  on  the  following  night  and  altered  the  word 
"  Star  "  into  "  Turtle."  My  reply  was  the  addition  "  Until 
the  '  Queen '  comes  out."  After  this  exploit  I  was  sent 
ashore  to  clean  the  cliff. 

There  were  numerous  horses  in  Malta,  and  the  midship- 
men and  bluejackets  used  to  hire  them  for  half-a-crown  a 
day.  When  the  horses  had  had  enough  of  their  riders,  they 
used  to  gallop  down  to  the  Florian  Gate,  kick  them  off,  and 
return  to  their  stable.  I  heard  one  sailor  remark  to  another, 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  31 

who,  sticking  to  his  horse,  was  bounding  up  and  down  in 
his  saddle : 

"  Get  off  that  there  'orse,  Jack,  'e's  a  beast ! " 

"He  aint  no  beast  at  all,"  retorted  Jack.  "'E's  the 
cleverest  'orse  I  ever  see.  He  chucks  me  up  and  he  catches 
me,  he  chucks  me  up  and  he  catches  me — why,  'e's  only 
missed  me  three  times  in  a  hour  1 " 

There  used  to  be  very  bad  feeling  between  English  and 
Maltese.  Both  sailors  and  soldiers  frequently  lost  their 
lives  on  shore.  The  seamen  used  to  be  stabbed,  and  the 
soldiers  were  sometimes  thrown  over  the  fortifications  at 
night.  I  have  seen  a  dead  soldier  lying  on  the  rocks  where 
he  was  thrown.  A  party  of  Marlborough  officers  drove  out 
in  "  go-carts  "  (two-wheeled  vehicles  in  which  passengers  lay 
on  cushions)  to  Civita  Vecchia,  to  hear  the  celebrated  Mass 
on  New  Year's  Eve.  The  Cathedral  was  the  richest  church 
in  Europe  until  Napoleon  confiscated  its  treasure.  Somehow 
or  other,  there  was  a  row,  and  we  were  fighting  fiercely  with 
a  crowd  of  Maltese.  A  clerk  of  our  party,  a  very  stout 
person,  was  stabbed  in  the  belly,  so  that  his  entrails  pro- 
truded. We  got  him  away,  laid  him  in  a  go-cart,  drove 
back  to  Malta,  a  two-hours'  drive,  and  put  him  on  board, 
and  he  recovered. 

At  nine  o'clock  p.m.  the  seniors  in  the  gunroom  stuck 
a  fork  in  the  beam  overhead,  the  signal  for  the  youngsters 
to  leave  their  elders  in  peace — too  often  to  drink.  Sobriety 
— to  put  it  delicately  —  was  not  reckoned  a  virtue.  I 
remember  visiting  a  ship  at  Bermuda  (never  mind  her 
name)  to  find  every  member  of  the  mess  intoxicated.  Two 
were  suffering  from  delirium  tremens ;  and  one  of  them  was 
picking  the  bodies  of  imaginary  rats  from  the  floor  with  a 
stick.  His  case  was  worse  than  that  of  the  eminent  member 
of  a  certain  club  in  London,  who,  when  a  real  rat  ran  across 
the  carpet,  looked  solemnly  round  upon  the  expectant  faces 
of  his  friends,  and  said,  "  Aha !  You  thought  I  saw  a  rat. 
But  I  didn't!" 

There  was  no  rank  of  sub-lieutenant,  the  corresponding 


32     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

grade  being  a  "  mate."  Many  of  the  mates  were  men  of 
thirty  or  more,  who  had  never  gained  promotion  and  who 
never  would  gain  it.  I  remember  an  old  mate  who  used 
to  earn  his  living  by  rowing  a  wherry  in  Portsmouth 
Harbour.  He  was  then  (1862)  on  half-pay,  with  seniority 
of  1820.  His  name  was  Peter  B.  Stagg,  as  you  may  see  in 
the  Navy  Lists  of  the  period.  In  the  Navy  List  of  1862, 
Stagg  is  rated  sub-lieutenant,  the  rank  of  mate  having  been 
abolished  in  the  previous  year. 

Wisdom  spoken  by  babes  was  not  approved  in  the 
Marlborough.  I  ventured  to  remark  a  thing  I  had  observed, 
which  was  that  the  masts  of  men-of-war  were  out  of  pro- 
portion tall  as  compared  with  the  sails  they  carried  ;  or,  in 
technical  language,  that  the  masts  were  very  taunt,  whereas 
the  sails  were  not  proportionately  square.  I  said  that  the 
masts  ought  to  be  lower  and  the  sails  squarer,  thus  in- 
creasing the  sailing  power. 

"  D n  it !  Listen  to  this  youngster  laying  down  the 

law  as  if  he  knew  better  than  Nelson !  "  cried  an  old  mate. 
I  was  instantly  sentenced  to  be  cobbed  ;  and  received  twelve 
strokes  with  a  dirk  scabbard. 

It  was  true  that  the  rig  had  been  inherited  from  the  men 
of  Nelson's  day ;  but  it  was  not  true  that  I  had  pretended 
to  know  better  than  the  late  admiral ;  for,  since  his  death, 
the  ships  had  become  longer ;  so  that,  whereas  in  Nelson's 
time  the  masts,  being  closer  together,  were  made  taller, 
with  relatively  narrow  sails,  in  order  that  in  going  about  the 
yards  should  not  lock,  in  my  time  the  reason  for  the  dis- 
proportion had  ceased  to  exist.  Very  shortly  after  I  had 
been  beaten  for  the  impiety  of  thinking  for  myself,  the 
merchant  clippers  adopted  the  very  plan  I  had  in  mind, 
lowering  masts  and  increasing  the  size  of  sails  and  thereby 
gaining  a  speed  which  was  unrivalled. 

I  visited  Corfu  during  my  time  in  the  Marlborough  when 
that  island,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  Ionian  Islands — 
Cephalonia,  Zante,  Ithaca,  Santa  Maura,  Cerigo  and  Paxo — 
was  an  independent  State  under  the  protection  of  Great 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  33 

Britain.  In  the  following  year,  1864,  the  Islands  were 
annexed  to  Greece.  When  the  Great  Powers  agreed  that 
a  sovereign  should  be  nominated  to  reign  over  Greece,  it 
was  suggested  that,  as  the  integrity  of  his  kingdom  could 
not  be  guaranteed,  he  should  be  provided  with  a  place  of 
refuge  in  case  of  trouble.  So  at  least  ran  the  talk  at  the 
time.  In  any  case,  Great  Britain  was  induced  to  relinquish 
these  magnificent  Islands,  which  she  had  won  from  the 
French  in  1809.  Their  loss  was  greatly  deplored  by  the 
Navy  at  the  time ;  for  Corfu  has  one  of  the  finest  harbours 
in  the  world;  a  harbour  in  which  a  whole  fleet  can  be 
manoeuvred.  The  Islands,  moreover,  had  magnificent  roads, 
and  were  furnished  with  barracks,  and  in  all  respects  formed 
an  invaluable  naval  base.  Prince  William  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein  was  proclaimed  King  George  I  of  Greece  on  3<Dth 
March,  1863.  The  late  King  was  a  most  admirable  sovereign, 
whose  personal  friendship  I  was  privileged  to  enjoy.  When  I 
was  in  Corfu  there  was  a  story  current  to  the  effect  that  when 
Mr.  Gladstone  came  to  the  Islands  on  his  mission  of  inquiry 
in  1858,  he  delivered  a  superb  oration  in  the  Greek  tongue. 
He  was,  of  course,  an  excellent  scholar  in  ancient  Greek ; 
but  modern  Greek  differs  in  pronunciation  and  other  respects. 
When  he  had  finished,  the  official  in  attendance,  while  com- 
plimenting him  upon  his  eloquence,  observed  what  a  pity  it 
was  that  Mr.  Gladstone  delivered  his  speech  in  the  English 
language. 

As  I  am  writing,  it  is  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
marriage  of  the  late  King  Edward  with  Queen  Alexandra, 
who  is  still  spared  to  us.  I  remember  that  on  the  loth 
March,  1863,  the  Marlborough  was  illuminated  with  a  dainty 
splendour  I  have  never  seen  surpassed,  even  in  these  days  of 
electricity.  Every  port-hole  was  framed  in  sixteen  little 
Maltese  glass  lamps ;  the  rails  and  yards  were  set  with  them  ; 
so  that,  ports  being  triced  up,  and  the  ship  being  lit  within, 
she  was  as  though  wrought  in  a  glow  of  mellow  fire. 

Early  in  the  year  1863  I  was  ordered  home,  to  my  great 
grief.  I  was  discharged  to  the  Hibernia  stationed  in  Malta 
VOL.  i.— 3 


34     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Harbour,  to  await  the  homeward  bound  P.  and  O.  mail 
steamer.  Many  years  afterwards,  when  commanding  the 
Undaunted^  I  was  tried  by  court-martial  in  the  old  Hibernia 
for  running  my  ship  ashore  and  was  acquitted  of  all  blame. 
While  waiting  in  the  Hibernia  for  a  passage,  I  learned  that 
the  Marlborough  had  gone  to  the  rescue  of  a  Turkish  liner, 
carrying  troops,  which  had  run  aground  on  the  Filfola  rocks, 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  by  sea  from  Malta  Harbour.  I  was 
so  eager  to  see  my  old  ship  again,  that  I  hired  a  duck-punt 
and  pulled  all  by  myself  to  the  Filfola  rocks.  Fortunately 
the  sea  was  calm,  or  I  must  have  been  drowned.  I  found  a 
party  from  the  Marlborough  rolling  the  Turkish  vessel  to  get 
her  off.  Each  British  sailor  took  a  Turkish  sailor  by  the  scruff 
of  his  neck,  and  ran  with  him  from  side  to  side  of  the  ship,  until 
she  rolled  herself  into  deep  water.  I  had  a  delightful  dinner 
on  board  the  Marlborough  and  then  I  pulled  all  the  way 
back  in  the  dark  to  the  Hibernia.  I  was  sad  indeed  that 
my  time  in  the  Marlborough  was  ended ;  for,  in  the  words 
of  George  Lewis,  my  old  topmate,  "  the  dear  old  Marlborough 
was  the  smartest  and  happiest  ship  that  ever  floated." 

I  took  passage  home  in  the  mail  steamer,  and  was 
appointed  midshipman  to  the  Defence  by  Rear-Admiral 
Charles  Eden,  C.B.,  my  "sea-daddy."  He  very  kindly  said 
ha  9'ished  me  to  gain  experience  of  one  of  the  new  iron  ships. 

NOTE 

The  Old  Navy. — The  Marlborough  was  a  survival  of  the 
Old  Navy,  in  whose  traditions  Lord  Charles  Beresford  and 
his  contemporaries  were  nurtured.  It  was  a  hard-fisted, 
free-living,  implacable,  tragic,  jovial,  splendid  Service;  it  was 
England  at  her  valorous  best. 

The  present  generation  hardly  realises  that  the  naval 
cadets,  who,  like  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  entered  the  Service 
in  the  mid-nineteenth  century,  were  taught  their  business  by 
the  men  who  had  served  with  Nelson.  The  admirals  and 
old  seamen  of  fifty  years'  service  who  are  alive  to-day,  there- 
fore represent  the  direct  link  between  Nelson's  time  and  our 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  35 

own.  When  they  entered  the  Navy,  many  of  the  admirals 
and  the  elder  seamen  had  actually  fought  under  Nelson,  and 
the  Service  was  in  all  essentials  what  it  was  at  Trafalgar. 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir  Edward  Seymour  relates  (in  My 
Naval  Career)  that  as  a  cadet  he  often  talked  with  Master- 
Commander  G.  Allen,  who  saw  Nelson  embark  from  the 
sally-port  at  Portsmouth  for  Trafalgar. 

The  change  from  sails  to  steam  was  just  beginning. 
Never  again  will  the  Royal  Navy  be  administered  by  men 
who  were  brought  up  in  that  stern  school,  which  produced  a 
type  of  men  unique  in  history. 

The  time-honoured  divisions  of  the  Fleet  into  Red, 
White  and  Blue  were  still  in  use  while  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  was  a  midshipman.  They  were  abolished  by  an 
Order  in  Council  of  9th  July,  1864. 

In  the  year  1858-9  there  was  only  one  admiral  of  the 
Fleet,  Sir  John  West,  K.C.B.  He  entered  the  Navy  in  1788, 
as  a  "  first-class  Volunteer,"  as  a  naval  cadet  was  then  called. 
West  served  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  in  the  West  Indies, 
Newfoundland  and  the  Channel  in  the  Pomona.  He  was 
midshipman  in  the  Salisbury,  50,  and  the  London,  98,  and  was 
in  the  Hebe,  Captain  Alexander  Hood.  He  was  lieutenant 
in  the  Royal  George,  Captain  Domett.  He  was  present  at  the 
action  of  lie  de  Groix  of  the  23rd  June,  1795,  under  Lord 
Bridport.  He  was  promoted  to  captain  in  1796.  In  1807, 
commanding  the  Excellent,  74,  he  was  engaged  off  Catalonia, 
helping  the  Spaniards  to  defend  the  citadel  of  Rosas,  which 
was  besieged  by  5000  French.  He  was  promoted  to  rear- 
admiral  in  1819,  and  to  admiral  of  the  White  in  1841. 

Here  was  an  instance  of  an  officer  becoming  a  captain 
at  the  age  of  22,  after  no  more  than  eight  years'  service; 
remaining  a  captain  for  23  years;  and  a  rear-admiral  for 
22  years;  and  in  1859  he  was  still  alive  as  an  admiral  of 
the  Fleet,  being  then  85  years  of  age. 

The  Board  of  Admiralty  in  1858-9  consisted  of:  the 
Right  Hon.  Sir  John  Somerset  Pakington,  Bart.,  M.P. ; 
Vice-Admiral  William  Fanshawe  Martin,  who  entered  the 


36 

Navy  in  1814;  Vice- Admiral  the  Hon.  Sir  Richard  Saunders 
Dundas,  K.C.B.,  who  entered  the  Royal  Naval  College  in 
1814;  Rear- Admiral  Sir  Alexander  Milne,  K.C.B.,  who 
entered  the  Royal  Naval  College  in  1817;  and  the  Right 
Hon.  Lord  Loraine,  M.P. 

A  very  brief  survey  of  the  services  of  the  admirals  of  the 
Red,  White  and  Blue  shows  that  they  derived  directly  from 
the  French  wars  and  the  time  of  Nelson. 

Admiral  of  the  Red  Sir  William  Hall  Gage,  G.C.H.,  had 
been  acting-lieutenant  of  the  Minerva,  when  she  bore  the 
broad  pennant  of  Commodore  Nelson  ;  had  fought  in  the 
battle  of  St.  Vincent  under  Sir  John  Jervis ;  and  commanded 
the  Indus  under  Sir  Edward  Pellew  in  the  action  off  Toulon 
of  1 3th  February,  1814. 

Admiral  of  the  Red  Sir  Edward  Durnford  King,  K.G.H., 
in  command  of  the  Endymion,  watched  26  sail  of  the  line  and 
nine  frigates  put  into  Cadiz  on  i6th  April,  1805,  and  carried 
the  information  to  Vice-Admiral  Collingwood,  who  was 
cruising  off  Gibraltar  with  four  ships.  He  had  the  ill-luck  to 
be  detailed  for  special  service  at  Gibraltar  on  Trafalgar  Day. 

Admiral  Sir  George  Mundy,  K.C.B.,  fought  in  the  battles 
of  St.  Vincent  and  of  the  Nile,  and  had  a  deal  of  other  dis- 
tinguished fighting  service  in  his  record. 

Then  there  was  Admiral  of  the  Red  the  Right  Hon. 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Dundonald,  G.C.B.,  whose  skill  in  privateer- 
ing amounted  to  genius.  As  Lord  Cochrane,  commanding 
in  1800  the  Speedy  sloop,  14  guns  and  54  men,  he  captured 
in  one  year  and  two  months  33  vessels  containing  128  guns 
and  533  men.  Among  other  spirited  exploits,  he  boarded 
and  carried  the  Spaniard  El  Gamo,  32  guns,  319  men. 
Falling  under  the  displeasure  of  the  politicians,  his  rank  and 
his  seat  in  Parliament  were  forfeited.  In  1818,  he  accepted 
the  chief  command  of  the  Chilian  Navy,  then  of  the  Brazilian 
Navy,  and  then  entered  the  Greek  naval  service.  King 
William  the  Fourth  upon  his  succession  reinstated  Dundonald 
in  his  rank  in  the  Royal  Navy. 

Admiral  of  the  Red  Sir  William  Parker,  Bart,  G.C.B., 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  37 

went  with  Nelson  in  pursuit  of  the  French  Fleet  to  the  West 
Indies  and  back  in  1805. 

Admiral  of  the  White  Sir  Lucius  Curtis,  Bart,  C.B., 
served  in  the  Mediterranean  in  1804  and  1805. 

Admiral  of  the  White  Sir  John  Louis,  Bart.,  served  in 
the  Mediterranean  in  1804. 

Admiral  of  the  White  John  Ayscough  was  flag-lieutenant 
in  the  Queen  Charlotte,  Lord  Rowe's  flagship,  in  the  Channel 
in  1797 ;  he  afterwards  served  with  distinction  in  Holland, 
Quiberon,  Cadiz,  Egypt,  the  West  Indies ;  and,  with  two 
frigates  and  some  sloops,  protected  Sicily  against  the  invasion 
of  Joachim  Murat. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  Sir  Edward  Chetham  Strode,  K.C.B., 
K.C.H.,  served  under  Lord  Hood  in  the  Victory  in  the 
Mediterranean,  taking  part  in  the  evacuation  of  Toulon,  in 
the  sieges  of  St.  Fiorenza,  Bastia  and  Calvi,  in  Corsica.  In 
August,  1794,  he  was  lieutenant  in  the  Agamemnon,  com- 
manded by  Nelson.  He  performed  much  distinguished  service 
until,  in  1841,  he  attained  flag  rank  and  went  on  half-pay. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  William  Bowles,  C.B.,  entered  the 
Navy  in  1796,  was  employed  in  the  Channel  and  off  Cadiz, 
in  the  North  Sea,  West  Indies,  and  North  American  station. 
In  command  of  the  Zebra  bomb,  he  went  with  Lord  Gambier 
to  Copenhagen.  In  1813,  and  again  in  1816,  he  performed 
excellent  service  in  protecting  British  trade  in  Rio  la  Plata 
and  the  neighbouring  coasts. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  James  Whitley  Deans  Dundas,  C.B., 
entered  the  Navy  in  1799,  took  part  in  the  blockade  of 
Alexandria  in  1800,  and  served  with  distinction  in  the  North 
Sea,  Baltic  and  Mediterranean. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  Henry  Hope,  C.B.,  took  part  in 
the  blockade  of  Alexandria  in  1800,  and  served  in  the 
Mediterranean. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  the  Hon.  Sir  Fleetwood  Broughton 
Reynolds  Pellew  performed  long  and  gallant  fighting 
services  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  Sir  Charles  Napier,  K.C.B.,  etc.  etc., 


38     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

had  a  most  distinguished  fighting  record  in  the  West  Indies 
and  on  the  coast  of  Syria.  In  1841  he  represented  Maryle- 
bone  in  Parliament,  in  which  respect,  as  in  others,  his  career 
resembled  that  of  Lord  Charles  Beresford. 

In  1854,  Sir  Charles  Napier  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  great  fleet  which  sailed  for  the  Baltic  in  the 
spring  of  that  year.  Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  who 
received  his  nomination  to  the  Navy  from  Sir  Charles  Napier, 
and  who  served  in  the  second  Baltic  expedition  of  the  follow- 
ing year,  makes  some  instructive  observations  in  respect  of 
the  treatment  of  Sir  Charles  Napier  by  the  authorities. 

"...  The  issue  was  really  decided  in  the  Black  Sea,  and 

both  Baltic  expeditions  were,  practically  speaking,  failures. 

The  admirals  were  told   by  the  Government  that  they  were 

not  to  attack  stone  forts  with  their  wooden  ships,  and  were 

then  censured  by  the  same  Government  for  doing  nothing, 

when   there   was    really   nothing  else   to   do.     Sir  Charles 

Napier,   who   commanded   the   British   Baltic   fleet   in   the 

summer  of  1854,  was  shamefully  treated  by  the  politicians, 

and,  being  a  hot  tempered  old  gentleman,  he  couldn't  stand 

it.     He  got  into  Parliament  as  member  for  Southwark  and 

gave  them  back  as  good  as  they  gave.  ...  It  was  the  old 

story — the  politicians  shunting  the  blame  on  to  the  soldiers 

or  the  sailors  when  they  fail  to  achieve  such  success  as  is 

expected  of  them,  but  quite  ready  to  take  credit  to  themselves 

for  their  magnificent  strategy  and  foresight  when  it  turns 

out  the  other  way.  .  .  .  When  Sir  Charles  was  peremptorily 

ordered   to  haul  down   his  flag,  as   a   punishment   for   not 

disobeying    orders,   he   was    superseded    in    command   by 

Admiral  Dundas,  who  had  been  a  Lord  of  the  Admiralty 

in  1854.  .  .  ." 

Sir  Charles  Napier  requested  the  Prime  Minister,  Lord 
Palmerston,  to  grant  an  inquiry  into  his  case.  He  then 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  Lord  Palmerston  : — "  I  sent 
your  Lordship  my  case,  which  I  requested  you  to  lay  before 
the  Cabinet,  but  you  have  not  favoured  me  with  a  reply.  I 
am  aware  of  the  various  occupations  of  your  Lordship,  but 


THE  SHIP  OF  HAPPIEST  MEMORY  39 

still  there  ought  to  be  some  consideration  for  an  old  officer 
who  has  served  his  country  faithfully,  and  who  has  held  an 
important  command.  Had  my  papers  been  examined  by 
your  Cabinet,  and  justice  done,  instead  of  dismissing  me, 
and  appointing  one  of  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  my 
successor,  you  would  have  dismissed  Sir  James  Graham 
and  his  Admiralty,  for  treachery  to  me."  (Life  of  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  by  General  Elers  Napier.  Quoted  by 
Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  in  Memories  of  the  Sea.} 

Sir  Charles  Napier,  remarks  Admiral  Fitzgerald,  "thus 
gave  his  wary  enemies  a  chance  of  accusing  him  of  disrespect 
towards  those  in  authority." 

Admiral  of  the  Blue  Phipps  Hornby,  C.B.,  was  promoted 
acting-lieutenant  from  the  Victory,  flagship  of  Lord  Nelson, 
to  the  Excellent,  74.  As  captain  of  the  Volage,  22,  he 
received  a  gold  medal  from  the  Admiralty  for  gallant  conduct 
in  the  action  off  Lissa  of  March,  1811,  when  a  British 
squadron  of  156  guns  and  859  men  defeated  after  six  hours' 
action  a  Franco- Venetian  force  of  284  guns  and  2655  men. 

Such  is  the  tale  of  the  admirals  of  the  Red,  White  and 
Blue  in  the  year  1858-9.  Several  of  them  had  actually 
served  in  Nelson's  ships ;  the  most  of  them  had  served  under 
Nelson's  command,  when  Lord  Charles  Beresford  joined  the 
Navy. 

In  the  same  year,  the  number  of  officers  receiving 
pensions  for  wounds  on  service  was  104. 

Admirals 2 

Vice-admirals         .         .         . 10 

Rear-admirals 4 

Captains 27 

Commanders 22 

Lieutenants    .....••••  24 

Masters 5 

Surgeons 2 

Mates 2 

Second  masters * 

Paymasters    .....»•'••  5 

104 


40     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  total  number  of  men  in  the  Royal  Navy  in  1858-9 
was  53,700:  38,700  seamen,  15,000  Marines.  In  1912-13, 
the  total  number  was  137,500:  118,700  seamen,  15,800 
Marines.  In  1810,  the  number  of  seamen  and  Marines  was 
145,000  :  1 13,600  seamen,  31400  Marines. 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY 

I  DID  not  like  the  Defence.  I  thought  her  a  dreadful 
ship.  After  the  immaculate  decks,  the  glittering  per- 
fection, the  spirit  and  fire  and  pride  of  the  Marlborough, 
the  "  flagship  of  the  world,"  I  was  condemned  to  a  slovenly, 
unhandy,  tin  kettle  which  could  not  sail  without  steam ; 
which  had  not  even  any  royal-masts;  and  which  took 
minutes  instead  of  seconds  to  cross  topgallant  yards,  a 
disgusting  spectacle  to  a  midshipman  of  the  Marlborough. 
Instead  of  the  splendid  sun  and  blue  waters  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, there  were  the  cold  skies  and  the  dirty  seas  of  the 
Channel.  I  wrote  to  my  father  asking  him  to  remove  me 
from  the  Navy. 

The  Defence  was  one  of  the  iron-built,  or  iron-cased, 
armoured,  heavily  rigged,  steam-driven,  broadside-fire  vessels 
launched  from  1 860  to  1 866.  They  represented  the  transition 
from  the  Old  Navy  to  the  New,  inasmuch  as  they  retained 
large  sailing  powers  and  broadside  fire,  combining  with  these 
traditional  elements,  iron  construction  and  steam  propulsion. 
They  were  the  Warrior,  Black  Prince,  Defence,  Resistance, 
Hector,  Valiant,  Achilles,  Minotaur,  Agincourt,  and  Northum- 
berland. The  Defence,  launched  in  1861,  was  (in  modern 
terms)  of  6270  tons  displacement,  2540  h.p.,  ir6  knots 
speed,  carried  22  guns,  and  had  a  complement  of  450 
men.  She  was  commanded  by  Captain  Augustus  Philli- 
more,  and  was  one  of  the  Channel  Squadron,  which,  in 
the  year  1863,  was  commanded  by  Rear- Admiral  Robert 

Smart,  K.H.  " 

41 


42     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 


CHANNEL  SQUADRON 
(NAVY  LIST,  1863,  DESCRIPTION) 


Rate 

H.P. 

Name 

Guns 

Tons 

Com.  Officer 

Comple- 
ment 

2nd 

S.    800 

Revenge  (Flag) 

73 

3322 

Capt.      Charles 

800 

Fellowes 

Iron-cased  ship 

S.  1250 

Warrior 

70 

6109 

Capt.    Hon.   A. 

704 

A.  Cochrane, 

C.B. 

»             » 

S.  1250 

Black  Prince 

40 

6109 

Capt.  J.   F.   A. 

704 

Wainwright 

»            i> 

S.    600 

Defence 

16 

3720 

Capt.    Augustus 

457 

Phillimore 

5>                          3  ) 

S.    600 

Resistance 

16 

37io 

Capt.     W.      C. 

457 

Chamberlain 

Gunboat 

S.      60 

Trinculo 

2 

Tender        to 

24 

Revenge 

The  Channel  Squadron  at  that  time  was  employed  in 
cruising  round  the  coasts  of  the  British  Isles,  in  order  to 
familiarise  people  on  shore  with  the  Fleet.  In  later  life  it 
fell  to  me,  as  commander-in-chief,  to  conduct  similar  cruises, 
of  whose  object  I  thoroughly  approve. 

The  Warrior  and  Black  Prince,  in  particular,  were  stately 
and  noble  vessels  whose  beauty  was  a  delight  to  behold. 
Their  great  spread  of  sail,  their  long  hulls  and  yacht  bows, 
the  vast  expanse  of  flush  wooden  decks,  their  solidity  and 
grace,  set  them  among  the  finest  ships  ever  built. 

I  was  somewhat  consoled  in  the  Defence  by  being  placed 
in  charge  of  the  cutter ;  in  which  I  succeeded,  by  a  small  feat 
of  seamanship,  in  earning  the  rare  commendation  of  the 
first  lieutenant.  I  was  about  to  sail  off  to  the  Fleet  from 
Devonport,  when  I  discovered  that  the  yard  of  the  dipping 
lug  was  sprung.  This  was  serious,  as  it  was  blowing  fairly 
hard.  Fortunately,  I  had  one  of  those  knives  so  dear  to 
boyhood,  containing  a  small  saw  and  other  implements ;  and 
with  this  weapon  I  shaped  a  batten  and  fitted  it  to  the  yard, 
woolded  it  with  spun-yarn  and  wedged  it  tight.  I  did  not 
expect  it  to  hold ;  but,  double-reefing  the  sail,  I  put  off.  All 


THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY  43 

the  way  to  the  ship  I  had  an  eye  on  the  yard,  and  it  held. 
Of  course  I  was  late  on  board;  and  the  first  lieutenant 
declined  to  believe  my  explanation  of  the  delay  until  he 
had  had  the  yard  hoisted  on  deck.  Then  he  was  kind 
enough  to  say,  "  Well,  my  boy,  if  you  can  do  a  thing  like 
that,  there's  hope  for  you  yet."  Every  little  ray  of  hope  is 
worth  having. 

But  by  reason  of  my  love  for  the  cutter,  I  fell  into  trouble. 
In  the  dockyard  at  Devonport,  there  stood  a  mast  newly 
fitted  with  beautiful  new  white  signal  halliards,  the  very  thing 
for  the  cutter.  I  should  explain  that,  as  we  were  kept  very 
short  of  stores,  stealing  in  the  Service  from  the  Service  for 
the  Service,  used  to  be  a  virtue.  There  was  once  an  admiral 
who  stole  a  whole  ship's  propeller  in  order  to  melt  the  brass 
from  it ;  and  it  was  another  admiral  who  boasted  to  me 
of  his  brother  officer's  achievement.  Of  course,  no  one 
ever  steals  anything  nowadays;  nothing  is  ever  missing 
out  of  store;  and  no  midshipman  would  dream  of  attempt- 
ing to  convey  signal  halliards  from  the  dockyard  into  his 
boat. 

But  I  did.  I  brought  an  end  of  the  halliard  into  an 
adjacent  shed,  concealed  in  which  I  revolved  swiftly  upon 
my  axis,  winding  the  rope  about  me.  Then  I  put  on  an 
overcoat,  borrowed  for  the  purpose.  But  my  figure  presented 
an  appearance  so  unnaturally  rotund  that  a  policeman  ex- 
perienced in  diagnosing  these  sudden  metamorphoses,  com- 
pelled me  to  divest  and  to  revolve,  unwinding,  in  the  public 
eye.  He  also  reported  me  for  stealing  Government  stores. 
"  Zeal,  all  zeal,  Mr.  Easy  !  " 

It  was  during  my  time  in  the  Defence  that  I  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  be  enabled  to  save  two  lives.  On  one 
occasion,  the  ship  was  lying  in  the  Mersey,  and  visitors 
were  on  board.  A  party  of  these  was  leaving  the  ship, 
when  their  boat  was  slewed  round  by  the  strong  tide,  and 
one  of  them,  a  big,  heavy  man,  fell  into  the  water.  I  dived 
after  him.  Luckily  there  was  a  boat-keeper  in  the  galley 
secured  astern  of  the  ship.  He  held  out  a  boat-hook, 


44     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

which  I  caught  with  one  hand,  holding  up  my  man  with 
the  other. 

I  received  the  gold  medal  of  the  Liverpool  Shipwreck 
Humane  Society,  and  the  bronze  medal  of  the  Royal 
Humane  Society.  The  name  of  the  man  who  fell  overboard 
was  Richardson.  More  than  forty  years  afterwards,  the 
son  of  Mr.  Richardson  sent  me  a  kind  letter,  enclosing  a 
photograph  of  his  father,  who  had  died  in  1882,  nineteen 
years  after  his  rescue. 

"  My  mother,"  wrote  Mr.  J.  Richardson,  "  was  in  very 
great  terror,  as  my  father  could  not  swim  a  stroke.  He  was 
a  very  fine  man,  and  this  made  your  task  you  so  quickly 
undertook  not  any  the  easier.  .  .  .  The  clothes  he  wore  on 
that  memorable  occasion  were,  after  their  thorough  wetting, 
too  small  for  him  to  wear  again,  so  they  were  cut  down  for 
my  elder  brothers,  and  were  called  by  them  their  '  Channel 
Fleet '  clothes,  and  jolly  proud  they  were  to  wear  them  too." 

The  boys'  sentiment  is  pleasing,  whether  it  arose  from 
the  exciting  fact  that  Mr.  Richardson  had  fallen  overboard 
in  them — a  thing  which  might  happen  to  any  gentleman — 
or  from  his  having  in  them  been  picked  out  by  an  officer 
(however  junior)  of  the  Channel  Fleet. 

The  second  occasion  when  I  was  successful  in  saving  a 
man  from  drowning  was  in  Plymouth  Sound.  A  string 
of  boats  from  the  Fleet  carrying  liberty  men  was  pulling 
ashore,  when  a  shore-boat  crossed  their  bows  and  was  run 
down  by  the  leading  boat.  I  jumped  in  and  held  up  one  of 
the  passengers ;  and  was  again  awarded  the  bronze  medal  of 
the  Royal  Humane  Society. 

In  the  Defence,  as  in  my  other  ships,  my  Service  trans- 
gressions were  few  and  venial,  as  in  the  case  of  the  signal 
halliards.  My  troubles  arose  from  my  intervals  of  relaxation 
on  shore.  It  is  now  so  long  ago  that  perhaps  I  may  without 
imprudence  relate  a  sad  episode  in  which  I  fell  under  the 
condemnation  of  the  law,  with  all  that  attendant  publicity 
which — as  one  journalist  rather  unctuously  remarked  at  the 
time — is  so  often  worse  than  the  penalty. 


THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY  45 

"Defence,  PLYMOUTH 

"  MY  DEAREST  FATHER, — I  am  writing  to  you  at  once 
to  tell  you  what  a  sad  scrape  I  have  just  come  out  of.  On 
Friday  night  I  was  with  some  other  wild  fellows  on  the  out- 
side of  a  cab,  pea-shooting,  myself  the  worst,  when  unfortun- 
ately I  hit  a  lady  who  was  leaning  on  a  gentleman's  arm  in 
the  face.  The  man  chased  us  and  with  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty,  caught  us;  we  were  then  taken  to  the  station- 
house,  and  given  into  custody.  The  hotel-keeper  we  always 
go  to,  very  kindly  bailed  us  for  the  night.  In  the  morning 
we  went  to  the  station-house  according  to  promise;  and 
were  tried ;  the  result  was  my  paying  £2,  los.  and  costs, 
or  one  month's  imprisonment,  and  another  £i,  or  7  days. 
The  other  two  got  off,  no  peas  being  found  upon  them.  You 
will  see  all  about  it  in  the  papers  I  am  sending  you.  I  am 
writing  to  you  in  such  a  hurry,  as  I  am  afraid  you  might 
believe  the  papers  if  you  saw  them  before  my  letter.  I  most 
solemnly  swear  to  you  on  my  honour  that  I  was  quite  sober 
the  whole  of  the  day  that  this  took  place.  And  as  for  be- 
having unbecoming  a  gentleman  in  the  Court,  I  certainly 
did  laugh,  but  the  judge  made  me,  and  all  did  so,  as  he  was 
chaffing  all  the  time.  The  reason  I  did  not  apologise  to 
the  man  was  because  he  swore  on  his  oath  that  I  was  drunk ; 
which  was  a  lie.  I  had  been  dining  with  Hutchinson  (see 
in  the  paper),  who  was  giving  a  dinner  as  he  was  leaving  the 
ship.  All  I  drank  was  two  glasses  of  Moselle.  The  papers 
I  sent  you  are  Radical  so  of  course  they  run  me  down.  .  .  . 
All  that  remains  to  be  said  is,  I  hope  you  will  look  upon  it 
as  a  boyish  lark  and  not  as  a  disgraceful  action  .  .  .  and 
will  you  send  me  5  pounds  as  I  have  but  3  shillings  left ; 
and  I  must  have  some  money  to  pay  mess,  wine,  etc.  etc. 
So  now  write  soon  to  your  prodigal  son, 

"CHARLIE  BERESFORD" 

I  received  in  reply  a  severe  but  affectionate  reproof  from 
my  father. 

The   gentlemen  of  the  Press  took  upon  themselves   to 


46     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

improve  the  occasion,  having  first  taken  care,  of  course,  to 
describe  the  affair  as  a  great  deal  worse  than  it  was.  "  Let 
this  lesson  be  taken,"  says  one  kind  journalist,  "  it  may  be  a 
guide  and  a  warning  for  the  future.  The  days  are  gone — 
gone  for  ever — when  the  pranks  of  a  Waterford  would  be 
tolerated ;  but  while  we  would  hope  his  follies  are  lost,  we 
would  likewise  hope  that  his  manly,  frank,  chivalrous  nature 
is  still  inherited  by  his  kinsmen." 

Another  reporter  did  me  the  justice  to  record  that,  on 
being  called  on  for  my  defence,  I  said :  "  I  certainly  do 
apologise  if  I  did  strike  the  lady,  because  it  was  not  my 
intention  to  do  so ;  but  I  certainly  don't  apologise  for  striking 
Mr.  Yates."  I  trust  he  bears  me  no  malice. 

Yet  another  guardian  of  public  morals  observed  that 
"  his  Worship,  in  announcing  the  penalties,  called  attention 
to  the  inequalities  of  the  law,  which  exacted  fines  for  the 
same  offence  alike  from  the  man  with  whom  sovereigns  were 
plentiful  as  hours  and  the  man  whose  night's  spree  must 
cost  him  a  week's  fasting."  Had  his  Worship  taken  the 
trouble  to  refer  to  the  scale  of  pay  granted  by  a  generous 
country  to  midshipmen,  comparing  it  with  the  scale  of 
rations  and  the  price  we  paid  for  them,  and  had  he  (in 
addition)  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  perusing  the  financial 
clauses  of  the  letter  addressed  to  me  more  in  sorrow  than  in 
anger  by  my  father,  he  might  perhaps  have  modified  his 
exordium. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  strict  supervision  exercised  by 
the  senior  officers,  I  may  record  that  I  received — in  addition 
to  my  other  penalties  and  visitations — a  severe  reproof  from 
Captain  Stewart,  my  old  captain  in  the  Marlborough. 

The  Channel  Fleet  visited  Teneriffe.  It  was  the  first 
iron  fleet  ever  seen  in  the  West  Indies. 

In  the  cutting-out  action  off  Teneriffe,  Nelson  lost  his 
arm,  and  several  ensigns  of  the  British  boats  were  captured 
by  the  French.  Ever  since,  it  has  been  a  tradition  in  the 
Navy  that  the  flags  ought  to  be  recaptured.  A  party  of 
bluejackets  did  once  succeed  in  taking  them  from  the 


THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY  47 

cathedral  and  carrying  them  on  board ;  but  the  admiral 
ordered  their  restoration.  They  were  then  placed  high  up 
on  the  wall,  out  of  reach,  where  I  saw  them.  We  held  a 
meeting  in  the  gun-room  of  the  Defence  to  consider  the  best 
method  of  taking  the  flags.  But  the  admiral,  who  was  of 
course  aware  that  all  junior  officers  cherished  the  hope  of 
recovering  the  relics,  issued  orders  that  no  such  attempt  was 
to  be  made. 

I  was  invited  by  an  old  friend  of  my  father,  a  religious 
old  gentleman  living  in  Cornwall,  to  a  couple  of  days'  rabbit- 
shooting.  I  was  overjoyed  at  the  opportunity,  and  was  the 
object  of  the  envy  of  my  brother  midshipmen.  Arriving 
after  lunch,  I  was  brought  into  the  great  room  where  the 
old  gentleman  was  sitting  in  an  arm-chair,  with  his  feet, 
which  were  swathed  in  masses  of  cotton-wool,  resting  on 
gout-rests.  Near  him  was  a  turn-table  laden  with  books. 

"  Don't  come  near  me,  my  boy,"  he  shouted,  as  I  entered. 
"  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,  but  don't  come  near  me.  I 
have  a  terribly  painful  attack  of  gout,  the  worst  I  ever  had 
in  my  life.  Go  and  sit  down  on  that  chair  over  there." 

With  the  breadth  of  the  polished  floor  between  us,  we 
chatted  for  a  while  ;  and  then  the  old  gentleman,  pointing 
to  the  table  of  books,  asked  me  to  give  him  a  particular 
volume. 

"  Now  be  very  careful,"  said  he. 

Full  of  ardour,  delighted  to  think  that  I  should  now 
escape  to  the  keeper  and  the  rabbits,  I  jumped  up,  ran  to 
the  table,  my  foot  slipped  on  the  parquet,  and  I  fell  face 
forward  with  my  whole  weight  upon  the  poor  old  man's  feet, 
smashing  both  foot-rests.  The  agonising  pain  shot  him  into 
the  air  and  he  fell  on  my  back.  I  have  never  heard  such 
language  before  or  since.  As  he  rolled  off  me,  he  shouted  : 

"  Ring  the  bell,  you ! " 

In  came  the  butler. 

"  Take  that out  of  my  house !  Send  him  back 

to  his  ship !  Never  let  me  see  his face  again !  " 

screamed  my  host. 


48     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

So  I  departed  in  the  dog-cart.  It  was  many  a  long 
day  ere  I  heard  the  last  of  my  rabbit-shooting  from  my 
messmates. 

A  few  months  afterwards,  when  I  had  been  less  than  a 
year  in  the  Defence,  Rear-Admiral  Charles  Eden  appointed 
me  to  the  Clio  as  senior  midshipman.  He  said  he  wanted 
me  to  learn  responsibility. 

NOTE 

The  New  Ships. — The  predecessors  of  the  Defence  and 
her  class  were  wooden  vessels  plated  with  iron  armour. 
The  first  iron-built,  armoured,  sea-going  British  vessel  was 
the  Warrior,  launched  in  1860.  She  was  laid  down  in  the 
previous  year,  in  which  Lord  Charles  Beresford  entered  the 
Navy.  Several  wooden  ships  (Royal  Oak,  Caledonia,  Prince 
Consort,  Ocean,  Royal  Alfred,  Repulse,  Favorite,  Research) 
were  converted  into  armoured  ships  during  their  construc- 
tion. These  were  launched  from  1862  to  1864.  For  some 
years  the  Admiralty  built  wooden  armoured  ships  and  iron 
armoured  ships  simultaneously.  From  1860  to  1866,  ten 
iron-built,  armoured,  sail  and  steam  ships  were  launched : 
Warrior,  Black  Prince,  Defence,  Resistance,  Hector,  Achilles, 
Valiant,  Minotaur,  Agincourt,  Northumberland.  In  1864  and 
1865,  five  wooden-built,  armoured  ships  were  launched : 
Lord  Clyde,  Lord  Warden,  Zealous,  Pallas,  Enterprise. 
The  Royal  Sovereign,  launched  in  1857  as  a  wooden  line-of- 
battle  ship,  was  converted  in  1862  to  an  armoured  vessel 
and  was  equipped  with  four  turrets.  She  was  thus  the  first 
turret-ship  in  the  British  Navy.  The  next  step  was  to 
group  the  guns  in  a  central  armoured  battery,  and  to  belt 
the  ship  with  armour  along  the  water-line.  At  the  same 
time,  more  turret-ships  were  constructed.  Earnest  con- 
troversy was  waged  among  naval  authorities  as  to  what 
were  the  most  important  qualities  of  the  fighting  ship,  to 
which  other  qualities  must  be  partially  sacrificed;  for, 
broadly  speaking,  all  warships  represent  a  compromise 


THE  SHIP  OF  UNHAPPY  MEMORY  49 

among  speed,  defence  and  offence — or  engines,  armour  and 
guns.  The  controversy  still  continues.  The  disaster  which 
befell  the  Captain  decided,  at  least,  the  low-freeboard 
question  in  so  far  as  heavily  rigged  sailing  steam  vessels 
were  concerned,  for  the  Captain,  a  rigged  low-freeboard 
turret-ship,  capsized  on  6th  September,  1870.  (The  Royal 
Navy,  vol.  i.,  Laird  Clowes.) 

Lord  Charles  Beresford,  entering  the  Navy  at  the 
beginning  of  the  changes  from  sails  to  steam,  from  wood  to 
iron,  and  from  iron  to  steel,  learned,  like  his  contemporaries, 
the  whole  art  of  the  sailing  ship  sailor,  added  to  it  the  skill 
of  the  sailor  of  the  transition  period,  and  again  added  to 
that  the  whole  body  of  knowledge  of  the  seaman  of  the  New 
Navy.  He  saw  the  days  when  the  sailing  officers  hated 
steam  and  ignored  it  so  far  as  possible ;  as  in  the  case  of 
the  admiral  who,  entering  harbour  under  steam  and  sail, 
gave  his  sailing  orders  but  neglected  the  engineer,  and  so 
fouled  the  wharf,  and  said,  "  Bless  me,  I  forgot  I  was  in  a 
steamship ! " 

Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  who  entered  the  Navy  five 
years  before  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  describes  the  transi- 
tional period  in  his  Memories  of  the  Sea.  Speaking  of  the 
Hercules,  one  of  the  new  central-battery,  armoured-waterline 
ironclads,  to  which  he  was  appointed  first  lieutenant  when 
she  was  first  commissioned  in  1868,  Admiral  Fitzgerald 
writes: — "The  Hercules  was  the  most  powerful  ironclad 
afloat,  in  this  or  any  other  country.  She  carried  1 8-ton 
guns — muzzle-loaders — and  nine  inches  of  armour,  though 
this  was  only  in  patches ;  but  she  had  a  good  deal  of  six- 
inch  armour,  and  her  water-line  and  battery  were  well 
protected,  as  against  ordnance  of  that  date.  She  was  full- 
rigged,  with  the  spars  and  sails  of  a  line-of-battle  ship,  and 
she  could  steam  fourteen  knots — on  a  pinch,  and  could  sail 
a  little.  In  fact  she  was  the  masterpiece  of  Sir  Edward 
Reed's  genius. 

"  Up  to  the  advent  of  the  Hercules  the  three  great  five- 
masted  ships  of   10,000  tons,  the  Minotaur ;  Agincourt  and 
VOL.  i. — 4 


SO     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Northumberland,  had  been  considered  the  most  powerful 
ships  in  the  British  Navy,  and  probably  in  the  world,  and 
Sir  Edward  Reed's  triumph  was,  that  he  built  a  ship  of 
about  8500  tons  which  carried  a  more  powerful  armament, 
thicker  armour,  fifty  feet  shorter  and  thus  much  handier, 
steamed  the  same  speed,  and  I  was  going  to  say — sailed 
better ;  but  I  had  better  say — did  not  sail  quite  so  badly ; 
and  it  must  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that  at  this  transition 
stage  in  the  development  of  the  Navy,  our  rulers  at  Whitehall 
insisted  that  our  ships  of  all  classes  should  have  sail  power 
suitable  to  their  tonnage.  '  For,'  said  they,  '  the  engines 
might  break  down,  and  then  where  would  you  be  ? " 
(Memories  of  the  Sea,  Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  chap,  xiv.) 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  MIDSHIPMAN   OF  1864 

I  WISH  I  could  convey  to  my  readers  something  of  the 
pride  and  delight  which  a  sailor  feels  in  his  ship.  But 
who  that  has  never  had  the  luck  to  be  a  deep-water 
sailor,  can  understand  his  joy  in  the  noble  vessel,  or  the 
uplifting  sense  of  his  control  over  her  matchless  and 
splendid  power,  born  of  a  knowledge  of  her  every  rope  and 
sail  and  timber,  and  of  an  understanding  of  her  behaviour 
and  ability.  For  every  ship  has  her  own  spirit,  her  own 
personality.  You  may  build  two  ships  or  twenty  upon  the 
same  design,  line  for  line  the  same,  and  each  will  develop 
her  own  character.  As  there  are  no  two  people  alike,  so 
there  are  no  two  ships  the  same. 

What  can  be  more  glorious  than  a  ship  getting  under 
way?  She  quivers  like  a  sentient  thing  amid  the  whole 
moving  tumultuous  lusty  life.  Men  are  racing  aloft ;  other 
men,  their  feet  pounding  upon  the  white  decks,  are  running 
away  with  the  ropes ;  the  ringing  commands  and  the  shout- 
ing fill  the  air ;  the  wind  strikes  with  a  salt  and  hearty  sting ; 
and  the  proud  and  beautiful  creature  rises  to  the  lift  of  the 
sea.  Doctor,  paymaster,  idlers  and  all  used  to  run  up  on 
deck  to  witness  that  magnificent  spectacle,  a  full-rigged  ship 
getting  under  sail.  As  for  me,  I  blessed  my  luck  when  I 
returned  from  the  Defence  to  a  sailing  ship. 

The  Clio  was  a  corvette  pierced  for  22  guns,  of  1472  tons 
burthen,  and  400  h.p.  The  screw  was  hoisted  when  she  was 
under  sail,  which  was  nearly  all  the  time.  She  was  an 
excellent  sailer,  doing  fourteen  to  sixteen  knots. 


52     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  midshipmen's  mess  was  so  small,  that  there  was  no 
room  for  chairs.  We  sat  on  lockers,  and  in  order  to  reach 
the  farther  side,  we  must  walk  across  the  table.  One  of  our 
amusements  in  this  tiny  cabin  was  racing  cockroaches,  which 
were  numerous.  We  used  to  drop  a  bit  of  melted  tallow 
from  a  purser's  dip  upon  their  backs,  plant  in  it  a  piece  of 
spun-yarn,  light  the  spun-yarn,  and  away  they  would  go 
from  one  end  of  the  table  to  the  other.  There  was  once  a 
cockroach — but  not  in  the  Clio — which  escaped,  its  light  still 
burning,  and  set  the  ship  on  fire. 

I  began  in  the  Clio  by  immediately  assuming  that  re- 
sponsibility of  senior  midshipman  desired  by  Rear-Admiral 
Charles  Eden.  I  purchased  the  stores  for  the  gunroom 
mess,  expending  £67,  accounting  for  every  penny,  with  the 
most  sedulous  precision.  We  paid  a  shilling  a  day  for 
messing,  and  the  stores  were  to  supplement  our  miserable 
rations.  They  were  so  bad  that  I  wonder  we  kept  our  health ; 
indeed,  only  the  fittest  survived. 

We  sailed  from  Portsmouth  in  August,  1864.  It  was  my 
first  long  voyage.  It  is  curious  that  the  first  week  of  a  long 
voyage  goes  very  slowly,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  very  fast. 
I  used  to  keep  the  first  dog  watch  and  to  relieve  the  officer 
in  the  morning  watch.  In  the  keen  pleasure  of  handling  the 
ship — loosing  sails,  sheeting  them  home,  reefing,  furling,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  work  of  a  sailor — I  regained  all  my  old 
delight  in  the  sea  which  I  had  lost  in  the  Defence.  Keeping 
watch  under  sail  required  unremitting  vigilance,  perpetual 
activity,  and  constant  readiness.  The  officer  of  the  watch 
must  be  everywhere,  with  an  eye  to  everything,  forward  and 
aft ;  while  the  helmsman  handling  the  wheel  under  the  break 
of  the  poop,  keeps  the  weather  leach  just  lifting. 

The  memory  of  the  continuous  hard  work  of  the  daily 
routine,  makes  the  sober  and  pleasant  background  to  the 
more  lively  recollection  of  events,  which  were  after  all  but 
the  natural  reaction  from  the  long  monotony  of  sea  life. 

It  was  my  duty  to  preserve  order  in  the  gun-room  ;  and 
a  lively  lot  I  had  in  charge.  One  of  the  midshipmen,  a 


THE  MIDSHIPMAN  OF  1864  53 

big  fellow,  was  something  of  a  bully.  He  used  to  persecute 
a  youngster  smaller  than  himself,  and  one  day  the  boy 
came  to  me  and  asked  what  he  could  do  to  end  the  tyranny. 
I  thought  that  this  particular  bully  was  also  a  coward — by 
no  means  an  inevitable  combination — and  I  advised  his 
victim,  next  time  he  was  bullied,  to  hit  the  bully  on  the  point 
of  the  nose  as  hard  as  he  could,  and  I  promised  that  I 
would  support  him  in  whatever  came  afterwards.  He  did 
as  he  was  told;  whereupon  the  bully  came  to  me  with  a 
complaint  that  a  junior  midshipman  had  struck  him.  I 
formed  a  ring  and  put  the  two  to  settle  the  matter  with 
their  fists.  The  little  boy  was  a  plucky  youngster,  and 
clever  with  his  fists.  He  knocked  out  his  enemy,  and  had 
peace  thereafter. 

I  crossed  the  Line  for  the  first  time.  In  going  through 
the  usual  ceremonies,  being  ducked  and  held  under  in  the 
big  tank,  I  was  as  nearly  drowned  as  ever  in  my  life,  being 
hauled  out  insensible.  We  towed  out  the  Turtle,  a  Govern- 
ment vessel,  bound  for  Ascension  with  stores.  While 
towing,  it  is  necessary  to  wear  instead  of  tacking,  for  fear 
of  coming  on  top  of  the  tow.  But  the  first  lieutenant 
thought  he  would  tack ;  so  he  tried  to  go  about.  There  was 
a  gale  of  wind  ;  the  ship  missed  stays,  and  came  right  on 
top  of  the  unfortunate  Turtle,  dismasting  and  nearly  sinking 
her.  I  was  sent  on  board  her  to  give  assistance;  and  I 
made  excellent  use  of  the  opportunity  to  collect  from  the 
Turtles  stores  many  useful  little  ship's  fittings  of  which  the 
Clio  was  in  need.  We  took  the  Turtle  into  Ascension, 
where  the  midshipmen  landed,  collected  the  eggs  of  the 
"  wideawake  "  gulls,  and  bottled  them  for  future  consumption. 

We  put  in  at  the  Falkland  Islands  in  November.  The 
population  consisted  of  ex-Royal  Marines  and  their  families. 
It  was  considered  necessary  to  populate  the  Islands  ;  and 
we  always  send  for  the  Royal  Marines  in  any .  difficulty. 
There  were  also  South  American  guachos  and  ranchers. 
The  governor  came  on  board  to  ask  for  the  captain's 
help.  The  governor  wanted  a  man  to  be  hanged,  and  his 


54     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

trouble  was  that  he  was  afraid  to  hang  him.  The  prisoner 
was  a  guacho,  who  had  murdered  a  rancher,  whom  he  had 
cast  into  the  river  and  then  shot  to  death.  The  governor 
was  afraid  that  if  he  executed  the  murderer,  the  other 
guachos  would  rise  in  rebellion.  So  he  wanted  the  captain 
to  bring  the  murderer  on  board  and  hang  him  to  the  yard- 
arm.  The  captain  refused  this  request ;  but  he  offered  to 
hang  him  on  shore,  a  proposal  to  which  the  governor  agreed. 
The  boatswain's  mate  piped  :  "  Volunteers  for  a  hangman — 
fall  in."  To  my  surprise,  half  the  ship's  company  fell  in. 
The  sergeant  of  Marines  was  chosen  to  be  executioner. 
He  took  a  party  on  shore,  and  they  constructed  a  curious 
kind  of  box,  like  a  wardrobe,  having  a  trap-door  in  the  top, 
above  which  projected  the  beam.  The  man  dropped 
through  the  trap  door  into  the  box  and  was  no  more  seen, 
until  the  body  was  taken  out  under  cover  of  night  and 
buried. 

The  shooting  on  that  island  was  naturally  an  intense 
delight  to  a  boy  of  my  age.  We  midshipmen  used  to  go 
away  shooting  the  upland  geese.  I  managed  to  bring 
aboard  more  than  the  others,  because  I  cut  off  the  wings, 
heads  and  necks,  cleaned  the  birds,  and  secured  them  by 
toggling  the  legs  together,  so  that  I  was  able  to  sling  four 
birds  over  each  shoulder.  The  whole  island  being  clothed 
in  high  pampas  grass,  it  was  impossible  to  see  one's  way. 
Officers  used  to  be  lost  in  the  Falklands.  The  body  of  a 
paymaster  who  was  thus  lost  was  not  discovered  for  eight 
years.  The  cold  induced  sleep,  and  a  sleeping  man  might 
freeze  to  death. 

Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  in  his  Memories  of  the  Sea, 
relating  his  experience  as  a  midshipman  in  the  Falkland 
Islands,  says,  "  Everybody  has  heard  of  the  Falkland  Island 
geese,  and  they  may  be  seen  to-day  in  St.  James's  Park. 
The  upland  geese  —  as  they  are  generally  called  —  are 
excellent  eating ;  but  there  are  also  immense  numbers  and 
different  varieties  of  other  geese  and  these  are  known  as 
1  kelp  geese.'  Alas  1  our  ornithological  education  had  been  so 


THE  MIDSHIPMAN  OF  1864  55 

sadly  neglected  that  we  did  not  know  the  difference  with 
the  feathers  on,  though  we  soon  found  it  out,  when  we  came 
to  cook  and  eat  them.  All  the  birds  we  shot  were  kelp 
geese*  about  as  fishy  as  cormorants;  but  they  were  not 
wasted,  for  we  gave  them  to  our  Marine  servants,  who  ate 
them  all  and  declared  them  to  be  excellent.  '  Some  flavour 
about  them,'  as  they  said." 

While  we  lay  at  the  Falkland  Islands  a  merchant  ship 
came  in  whose  whole  company  was  down  with  scurvy. 
When  I  joined  the  Navy,  lime-juice,  the  prophylactic,  was 
served  out  under  the  regulation ;  but  in  the  mercantile 
marine  scurvy  was  still  prevalent.  It  is  a  most  repulsive 
disease.  The  sufferer  rots  into  putrid  decay  while  he  is  yet 
alive.  If  you  pressed  a  finger  upon  his  flesh  the  dent  would 
remain.  He  is  so  sunk  in  lethargy  that  if  he  were  told  the 
ship  was  sinking  he  would  decline  to  move.  His  teeth  drop 
out  and  his  hair  falls  off.  It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  that 
the  use  of  lime-juice  as  a  prophylactic  was  discovered,  or 
at  least  largely  introduced,  by  Captain  James  Cook  the 
navigator;  whose  statue,  erected  at  Whitby,  I  had  the 
privilege  of  unveiling  in  1912.  Historically,  I  believe  that 
Captain  Lancaster,  commanding  the  Dragon,  in  the  service 
of  the  Honourable  East  India  Company  in  the  time  of 
James  I,  was  the  first  to  cure  scurvy  by  administering  three 
spoonfuls  of  lemon  to  each  patient,  with  his  breakfast. 

From  the  Falkland  Islands  we  proceeded  to  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  where  the  natives  of  Terra  del  Fuego  came  off 
to  us  in  boats.  They  were  totally  naked,  and  were  smeared 
all  over  with  grease.  It  was  snowing,  and  they  had  made 
a  fire  in  the  boats ;  and  when  the  sea  splashed  upon  the 
fire  and  put  it  out,  they  beat  the  sea  in  anger  with  their 
paddles. 

At  the  convict  settlement  there  used  to  be  a  box  to 
hold  mails  fixed  on  the  top  of  a  pole.  The  letters  were 
taken  on  board  the  next  ship  passing  homeward  bound. 
I  posted  a  letter  addressed  to  my  mother,  who  received  it  in 
due  time. 


56     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

We  dropped  anchor  off  Port  Mercy.  It  came  on  to  blow 
a  hurricane.  We  had  two  anchors  down  ahead,  struck 
lower  yards  and  topmast,  and  kept  the  screw  moving  to 
ease  the  cables.  Without  the  aid  of  steam,  we  should  have 
been  blown  away.  Even  so,  the  captain  became  anxious 
and  decided  to  put  out  to  sea.  We  battened  down  and 
went  out  under  trysails  and  forestaysail.  Instantly  we  were 
plunged  into  a  mountainous  sea,  and  the  wind  whipped 
the  canvas  out  of  us.  We  set  close-reefed  foretopsail.  A 
tremendous  squall  struck  us,  we  shipped  water  and  were 
blown  upon  our  beam  ends.  So  strong  was  the  wind  that 
each  successive  blast  listed  the  ship  right  over.  The  captain 
then  determined  to  run  back  to  Port  Mercy.  The  master 
set  the  course,  as  he  thought,  to  clear  the  headland  ;  and 
we  steamed  at  full  speed.  I  was  standing  half-way  up  the 
bridge  ladder  holding  on  to  the  man-rope  in  a  violent  squall 
of  hail  and  snow,  the  hail  cutting  my  cheeks  open,  when  I 
saw  land  right  ahead.  The  fact  was  that  the  master  had 
mistaken  his  course,  and  the  ship  was  driving  straight  on 
shore,  where  every  man  would  have  perished.  I  reported 
my  observation  to  the  first  lieutenant,  who  merely  re- 
marked that  it  was  probable  that  the  master  knew  better 
than  I  did.  But  presently  he  too  saw  the  high  rocks  loom- 
ing ahead  through  the  smother  of  snow  and  spray,  and  the 
course  was  altered  just  in  time.  The  wind  was  on  the  port 
beam ;  we  edged  into  it  out  to  sea ;  and  so  were  able  to 
clear  the  headland  and  get  under  the  lee  of  the  land.  The 
first  lieutenant  afterwards  handsomely  admitted  that  it  was 
a  good  job  I  was  standing  where  I  was  "with  my  eyes 
open  "  at  the  critical  moment.  It  was  in  the  height  of  this 
emergency,  that  I  first  heard  the  pipe  go  "  Save  ship." 

We  proceeded  to  Valparaiso,  where  the  ship  put  in  to 
refit.  At  Valparaiso,  we  were  able  to  get  horses,  and  we 
organised  paper-chases. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  incident  of  the  Impresario 
occurred.  He  was  conducting  the  orchestra  from  the  stage 
itself,  being  seated  in  a  hole  cut  in  the  stage,  so  that  his  legs 


THE  MIDSHIPMAN  OF  1864  57 

rested  upon  a  little  platform  below.  The  refreshment  room 
was  underneath  the  stage,  and  the  Impresario's  legs  projected 
downwards  from  the  ceiling  into  the  room,  where  were  two 
or  three  midshipmen  and  myself.  The  temptation  was 
irresistible.  We  grasped  the  legs ;  hauled  on  them ;  and 
down  came  the  Impresario.  Overhead,  the  music  faltered 
and  died  away. 

From  Valparaiso  we  proceeded  to  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
whence  we  were  ordered  to  take  Queen  Emma  to  Panama, 
on  her  way  to  England  to  see  Queen  Victoria.  Queen 
Emma  was  born  Miss  Emma  Booker.  She  married 
Kamehameha  IV  in  1856.  We  took  the  Queen  on  board 
with  one  native  lady  as  her  attendant.  The  natives  were 
devoted  to  their  queen,  and  they  insisted  on  loading  the 
ship  with  presents  for  her. '  They  brought  pigs,  masses  of 
yams,  sweet  potatoes,  water-melons  and  other  fruit.  The 
pigs  were  housed  forward  on  the  main  deck,  and  the  other 
offerings  were  piled  on  the  rigging  and  hammock  nettings 
and  about  the  davit  guys,  so  that  the  ship  looked  like  an 
agricultural  show  when  we  sailed  for  Panama. 

We  sighted  a  schooner  flying  signals  of  distress.  The 
life-boat  was  called  away  to  go  to  her  assistance.  I  was  in 
charge  of  the  life-boat.  When  a  boat  is  called  away  at  sea, 
the  crew  of  course  take  their  places  in  her  before  she  is 
lowered.  The  whole  operation,  from  the  sound  of  the  pipe 
to  the  moment  the  boat  touches  the  water,  occupies  no 
more  than  a  few  seconds  in  a  smart  ship.  There  was  a  < 
little  sea-way  on,  and  the  movement  of  the  boat  caused  a 
jerk  to  the  falls,  unhooking  the  safety  catch,  and  dislodging 
an  enormous  water-melon,  which  fell  through  about  eighteen 
feet  upon  the  top  of  my  head.  I  was  knocked  nearly  sense- 
less. It  was  the  melon  that  split  upon  the  impact,  deluging 
me  with  red  pulp ;  but  I  thought  that  it  was  my  skull  which 
had  cracked,  and  that  they  were  my  brains  which  were 
spoiling  my  uniform,  and  I  remember  wondering  that  my 
brains  should  be  so  queerly  and  vividly  coloured. 

But    I    recovered    from   the  shock    in   a   few   minutes. 


58     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Boarding  the  schooner,  I  found  she  was  short  of  water. 
But  the  remarkable  thing  about  that  schooner  was  that 
although  she  carried  a  cargo  of  six  thousand  pounds  in 
Mexican  dollars,  they  had  only  four  men  on  board,  all  told 
— ran  easy  prize  for  a  pirate. 

After  touching  at  Acapulco,  which  was  all  heat  and  flies, 
we  landed  the  Queen  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  at  Panama. 

Some  years  afterwards,  I  went  to  call  upon  her  Majesty. 
In  all  my  voyages,  I  carried  with  me  a  set  of  tandem  harness  ; 
and  on  this  occasion,  I  hired  a  light  cart  and  a  couple  of 
ponies,  and  drove  them  tandem.  Approaching  the  royal 
residence,  I  took  a  corner  too  sharply,  the  cart  capsized,  I 
was  flung  out,  and  found  myself  sitting  on  the  ground  in  the 
Queen's  presence. 

But  before  we  quitted  the  Sandwich  Islands,  an  event 
occurred  (of  which  I  was  the  humble  and  unwitting  instru- 
ment) which  nearly  brought  about  what  are  called  inter- 
national complications.  I  should  explain  that  feeling  ran 
pretty  high  between  the  English  and  the  Americans  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands  with  regard  to  the  American  Civil  War, 
which  was  then  waging.  It  was  none  of  our  business,  but 
we  of  the  Clio  chose  to  sympathise  with  the  South.  Now 
that  these  unhappy  differences  have  been  so  long  composed, 
there  can  be  no  harm  in  referring  to  them.  But  it  was  not 
resentment  against  the  North  which  inspired  my  indiscretion. 
It  was  the  natural  desire  to  win  a  bet.  A  certain  lady — her 
name  does  not  matter — bet  me  that  I  would  not  ride  down  a 
steep  pass  in  the  hills,  down  which  no  horse  had  yet  been 
ridden.  I  took  the  bet  and  I  won  it.  Then  the  same  fair 
lady  bet  me — it  was  at  a  ball — that  I  would  not  pull  down 
the  American  flag.  That  emblem  was  painted  on  wood  upon 
an  escutcheon  fixed  over  the  entrance  to  the  garden  of  the 
Consulate.  I  took  that  bet,  too,  and  won  it. 

Having  induced  two  other  midshipmen  to  come  with  me, 
we  went  under  cover  of  night  to  the  Consulate.  I  climbed 
upon  the  backs  of  my  accomplices,  leaped  up,  caught  hold 
of  the  escutcheon,  and  brought  the  whole  thing  down  upon 


THE  MIDSHIPMAN  OF  1864-  59 

us.  Then  we  carried  the  trophy  on  board  in  a  shore-boat. 
Unfortunately  the  boatman  recognised  what  it  was,  and 
basely  told  the  American  consul,  who  was  naturally 
indignant,  and  who  insisted  that  the  flag  should  be  nailed 
up  again  in  its  place.  I  had  no  intention  of  inflicting 
annoyance,  and  had  never  considered  how  serious  might  be 
the  consequences  of  a  boyish  impulse.  My  captain  very 
justly  said  that  as  I  had  pulled  down  the  flag  I  must  put  it 
up  again,  and  sent  me  with  a  couple  of  carpenters  on  shore. 
We  replaced  the  insulted  emblem  of  national  honour,  to 
the  deep  delight  of  an  admiring  crowd.  The  Clio  put  to  sea. 
We  heard  afterwards  that  the  American  Government 
dispatched  a  couple  of  ships  of  war  to  capture  me,  but  I 
do  not  think  the  report  was  true. 

Having  landed  the  Queen  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  at 
Panama,  as  I  have  said,  about  the  middle  of  June,  1865,  we 
left  the  Bay  early  in  July,  and  proceeded  to  Vancouver, 
arriving  there  in  the  middle  of  August.  There  we  remained 
until  early  in  December. 

I  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  working  party  from  the  Clio, 
to  cut  a  trail  through  the  virgin  forest  of  magnificent  timber 
with  which  the  island  was  then  covered.  I  was  pleased 
enough  to  receive  an  extra  shilling  a  day  check-money. 
Where  the  flourishing  town  of  Victoria  now  stands,  there 
were  a  few  log  huts,  closed  in  by  gigantic  woods.  When  I 
revisited  the  country  recently,  I  found  a  tramway  running 
along  what  was  once  my  trail,  and  I  met  several  persons 
who  remembered  my  having  helped  to  cut  it,  nearly  fifty 
years  before. 

I  believe  that  Canada  will  eventually  become  the  centre 
of  the  British  Empire ;  for  the  Canadians  are  a  splendid 
nation,  gifted  with  pluck,  enterprise  and  energy. 

The  free  forest  life  was  bliss  to  a  boy  of  my  age.  To 
tell  the  truth,  we  were  allowed  to  do  pretty  well  what  we 
liked  in  the  Cliot  which  was  so  easy-going  a  ship  that  she 
was  nicknamed  "  the  Privateer."  We  used  to  go  out  fishing 
for  salmon  with  the  Indians,  in  their  canoes,  using  the 


6o     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Indian  hook  made  of  shell.  To  this  day  the  Indians  fish 
for  salmon  in  canoes,  using  shell  hooks.  I  made  a  trot,  a 
night-line  with  a  hundred  hooks,  and  hauled  up  a  goodly 
quantity  of  fish  every  morning.  I  remember  that  a  party  of 
midshipmen  (of  whom  I  was  not  one)  from  another  ship 
were  playing  cricket  on  the  island,  when  a  bear  suddenly 
walked  out  of  the  forest.  The  boys  instantly  ran  for  a  gun 
and  found  one  in  an  adjacent  cabin,  but  there  were  no 
bullets  or  caps.  So  they  filled  up  the  weapon  with  stones 
from  the  beach.  In  the  meantime  the  bear  had  climbed  a 
tree.  The  midshipmen  levelled  the  gun  at  him  and  fired  it 
with  a  lucifer  match. 

We  used  to  go  away  into  the  forest  deer-shooting,  and 
on  one  occasion  we  were  lost  for  a  day  and  a  night.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
celebrated  Mr.  Dunsmuir,  who  became  a  mayor  and  a 
millionaire,  simply  because  he  slept  one  night  in  the  forest 
— for  the  sake  of  coolness.  When  he  awoke  in  the  morning, 
he  found  that  he  had  pillowed  his  head  upon  a  lump  of  coal. 
He  subsequently  obtained  an  enormous  concession  of  land 
from  the  Government  and  amassed  a  huge  fortune  in  coal 
Two  of  our  lieutenants  put  money  in  the  scheme.  I  wrote 
at  the  time  to  my  father,  asking  him  to  let  me  have  a 
thousand  pounds  to  invest  in  the  coal  business.  But  he 
replied  affectionately  but  firmly  that,  until  I  ceased  to  exceed 
my  allowance,  he  did  not  think  it  right  that  I  should  embark 
in  a  gambling  project.  The  two  lucky  lieutenants  were 
eventually  bought  out  by  Mr.  Dunsmuir  for  a  very  large 
sum  of  money. 

I  was  very  happy  in  the  Clio\  but,  for  reasons,  it  was 
considered  expedient  that  I  should  be  transferred  to  the 
Tribune.  Accordingly,  I  turned  over  to  the  Tribune  early 
in  December,  by  the  orders  of  my  constant  friend,  Admiral 
Charles  Eden.  He  said  it  would  do  me  good  to  serve  under 
Captain  Lord  Gillford.  He  was  right.  It  did. 


CHAPTER  VI 
STRICT  SERVICE 

CAPTAIN  Lord  Gillford,  afterwards  Lord  Clanwilliam, 
was  one  of  the  finest  seamen,  and  his  ship  was  one  of 
the  smartest  ships,  in  the  Service.  The  Tribune  was 
what  we  used  to  call  a  jackass  frigate.  She  was  pierced  for 
31  guns,  was  of  1570  tons  burthen,  and  300  h.p. — not  that 
anything  could  ever  induce  the  captain  to  use  steam. 

Before  I  joined  the  Tribune,  she  had  sprung  her  foremast, 
so  she  went  up  the  Eraser  River  to  cut  a  new  spar  out  of  the 
forest.  Such  things  were  done  in  those  days.  But  on  the 
way  up  she  grounded  on  the  bar.  Everything — guns,  coal, 
stores — was  taken  out  of  her;  anchors  were  got  out;  and 
every  effort  was  made  to  warp  her  off.  Still  she  would  not 
move.  In  this  desperate  pass,  when  every  man  in  the  ship, 
except  one,  was  hauling  on  the  purchases,  it  is  on  record 
that  when  the  chaplain  put  his  weight  on  the  rope,  away 
she  came.  The  power  of  the  man  of  God  is  remembered 
even  unto  this  day.  Then  the  Tribune  sailed  up  the  river, 
and  they  cut  a  new  spar,  set  it  up  and  rigged  it,  and  she 
came  home  with  it. 

Captain  Lord  Gillford  prided  himself  on  the  speed  of  his 
ship  under  sail.  He  had  fitted  her  with  all  sorts  of  extra 
gear,  such  as  they  had  in  the  famous  tea-clippers.  His  tacks 
and  sheets  were  much  thicker  than  was  usual ;  strengthening 
pieces  were  fitted  to  the  sails ;  there  were  gaffs  for  topgallant 
backstays,  and  extra  braces.  His  order  book  was  a  curiosity. 
Day  after  day  it  bore  the  same  entry :  "  The  course.  Carry 
sail."  Sailing  from  Vancouver  to  Valparaiso,  the  Tribune 

6x 


62     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

beat  the  Suttef,  another  fine  sailing  ship  commanded  by 
another  first-class  seaman,  by  two  days. 

Captain  Lord  Gillford's  orders  were  that  sail  should  never 
be  shortened  without  his  permission.  One  night  when  it 
was  blowing  hard  I  went  down  to  the  captain's  cabin  to  ask 
him  if  we  might  take  in  the  topmast  studding-sail.  The  ship 
was  then  heeling  over.  The  captain  stuck  one  leg  out  of 
his  cot  and  put  his  foot  against  the  side  of  the  ship.  "  I  don't 
feel  any  water  here  yet,"  says  he,  and  sent  me  on  deck  again. 
The  next  moment  the  sail  blew  away. 

I  can  never  be  too  grateful  for  the  seamanship  I  learned 
on  board  the  Tribune.  The  captain  lost  no  opportunity  of 
teaching  us.  On  one  occasion,  for  instance,  we  carried  away 
the  starboard  foremast  swifter,  in  the  fore  rigging — the 
Tribune  had  rope  lower  rigging.  Captain  Lord  Gillford, 
instead  of  splicing  the  shroud  to  the  masthead  pennants, 
chose,  in  order  to  educate  us,  to  strip  the  whole  foremast  to 
a  gantline.  We  got  the  whole  of  the  lower  rigging  over  the 
masthead  again.  I  was  in  the  sailmaker's  crew ;  and  another 
midshipman  and  myself,  together  with  the  forecastle  men, 
fitted  in  the  new  shroud,  turned  it  in,  wormed,  parcelled,  and 
served  it ;  put  it  over  the  masthead,  and  got  the  fore  rigging 
all  a-taunto  again.  I  also  helped  to  make  a  new  foresail  and 
jib  out  of  number  one  canvas,  roped  them,  put  the  clews  in, 
and  completed  the  job.  Lord  Gillford's  object  was  to  teach 
those  under  him  to  carry  out  the  work  in  the  proper  ship- 
shape manner.  The  sailmaker's  crew,  among  whom  was 
another  midshipman,  named  Morrison,  and  myself,  numbered 
15  or  20  men,  including  able  seamen,  and  we  were  all  as 
happy  as  possible.  We  were  taught  by  one  of  the  best  sail- 
makers  in  the  Service,  who  was  named  Flood.  We  always 
worked  in  a  sailmaker's  canvas  jumper  and  trousers  made  by 
ourselves.  I  could  cut  out  and  make  a  seaman's  canvas 
working  suit,  jumper  and  trousers,  in  30  minutes,  using  the 
sailmaker's  stitch  of  four  stitches  to  the  inch. 

I  had  a  complete  sailmaker's  bag  with  every  sailmaker's 
tool  necessary — serving  and  roping  mallets,  jiggers,  seaming 


STRICT  SERVICE  63 

and  roping  palms,  all-sized  marling-spikes,  fids,  seam-rubbers, 
sail-hooks,  grease-pot,  seaming  and  roping  twine,  etc.  etc. 

Morrison  and  I  worked  together  at  everything.  We 
turned  in  new  boats'  falls,  replaced  lanyards  in  wash-deck 
buckets,  as  well  as  taking  our  turn  at  all  tricks  sailmaker's 
crew.  We  put  in  new  clews  to  a  topsail  and  course.  We 
roped  a  jib  and  other  fore-and-aft  sails.  Both  of  these  jobs 
require  great  care  and  practice,  and  both  of  them  we  had  to 
do  two  or  three  times  before  we  got  them  right.  A  sailmaker 
knows  how  difficult  it  is  to  keep  the  lay  of  the  rope  right  in 
roping  a  sail.  We  used  also  to  go  aloft  and  repair  sick  seams 
in  the  sails  to  avoid  unbending. 

Captain  Lord  Gillford  himself  could  cut  out  a  sail,  whether 
fore-and-aft  or  square.  I  have  heard  him  argue  with  Flood 
as  to  the  amount  of  goring  to  be  allowed,  and  Lord  Gillford 
was  always  right.  It  was  he  who  put  it  into  my  head  to  try 
to  teach  myself  all  that  I  could,  by  saying,  "  If  a  man  is  a 
lubber  over  a  job,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  show  him  how  to 
do  it,  not  tell  him  how  to  do  it." 

We  were  never  so  proud  as  when  Lord  Gillford  sent  for 
us  and  told  us  that  we  had  made  a  good  job  of  roping  the 
new  jib.  Among  other  things,  I  learned  from  the  "  snob," 
as  the  shoemaker  was  called,  to  welt  and  repair  boots.  In 
after  years,  I  made  a  portmanteau,  which  lasted  for  a  long 
time,  for  my  old  friend,  Chief  Engineer  Roffey ;  and  I  made 
many  shooting  and  fishing  bags  for  my  brother  officers. 

Merely  for  the  sake  of  knowing  how  to  do  and  how  not 
to  do  a  thing,  in  later  years  I  have  chipped  a  boiler  (a  devil 
of  a  job),  filled  coal-sacks,  trimmed  bunkers,  stoked  fires  and 
driven  engines. 

We  used  up  all  our  spare  canvas  in  the  Tribune ;  and  I 
remember  that  on  one  occasion  we  were  obliged  to  patch 
the  main-royal  with  a  mail-bag,  so  that  the  main-royal  bore 
the  legend  "  Letters  for  England  "  on  it  thereafter. 

While  in  the  Tribune,  two  misfortunes  occurred  to  me 
on  the  same  day.  As  we  all  know,  misfortunes  never  come 
singly.  The  sailmaker  had  reported  me  for  skylarking ;  and  it 


64     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

occurred  to  me  that  if  he  was  going  to  put  me  in  the  report, 
he  might  as  well  have  a  better  reason  for  that  extreme 
action.  I  therefore  rove  a  line  attached  to  a  sailmaker's 
needle  through  the  holes  of  the  bench  upon  which  he  sat. 
When  he  seated  himself  to  begin  his  work,  I  jerked  the  line, 
and  he  leaped  into  the  air  with  a  loud  cry.  That  was  my 
first  misfortune.  The  second  was  entirely  due  to  the  rude 
and  thoughtless  conduct  of  another  midshipman,  who,  in 
passing  me  as  I  sat  at  my  sailmaker's  bench,  industriously 
working,  tilted  me  over.  I  took  up  the  first  thing  which 
was  handy,  which  happened  to  be  a  carpenter's  chisel,  and 
hurled  it  at  his  retreating  figure.  It  stuck  and  quivered  in 
a  portion  of  his  anatomy  which  is  (or  was)  considered  by 
schoolmasters  as  designed  to  receive  punishment.  I  had,  of 
course,  no  intention  of  hurting  him.  But  I  was  reported  for 
the  second  time  that  day.  I  was  put  on  watch  and  watch 
for  a  week,  a  penance  which  involved  being  four  hours  on 
and  four  hours  off,  my  duties  having  to  be  done  as  usual 
during  the  watch  off  in  the  daytime. 

We  sailed  from  Vancouver  early  in  December,  1865.  On 
2nd  January  I  was  promoted  to  be  acting  sub-lieutenant. 
I  find  that  Captain  Lord  Gillford  endorsed  my  certificate 
with  the  statement  that  Lord  Charles  Beresford  had  con- 
ducted himself  "  with  sobriety,  diligence,  attention,  and  was 
always  obedient  to  command ;  and  I  have  been  much 
pleased  with  the  zealous  manner  in  which  he  has  performed 
his  duties." 

We  arrived  at  Valparaiso  towards  the  end  of  January. 
I  continued  to  discharge  my  duties  in  the  Tribune  until  the 
middle  of  February,  when  I  was  transferred  to  the  Sutlej. 

I  was  as  happy  on  board  the  Tribune  as  I  had  been  in 
the  Marlborough  and  the  Clio,  and  for  the  same  reason :  the 
splendid  seamanship  and  constant  sailorising. 

The  Sutlej  was  a  steam  frigate  pierced  for  guns,  of  3066 
tons  and  500  h.p.,  flagship  of  the  Pacific  station.  Before 
I  joined  her,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  station  was 
Admiral  Kingcome,  who  had  (as  we  say)  come  in  through 


STRICT  SERVICE  65 

the  hawse-pipe.  It  was  the  delight  of  this  queer  old  admiral 
to  beat  the  drum  for  night-quarters  himself.  He  used  to 
steal  the  drum,  and  trot  away  with  it,  rub-a-dub  all  along 
the  lower  deck,  bending  double  beneath  the  hammocks 
of  the  sleeping  seamen.  On  one  of  these  occasions — so 
runs  the  yarn — a  burly  able  seaman  thrust  his  bare  legs  over 
the  edge  of  his  hammock,  clipped  the  admiral  under  the 
shoulders,  swung  him  to  and  fro,  and,  with  an  appropriate 
but  unquotable  objurgation,  dispatched  him  forward  with 
a  kick. 

Such  (in  a  word)  was  the  condition  of  the  flagship  to 
which  Rear-Admiral  the  Honourable  Joseph  Denman  suc- 
ceeded, after  the  enjoyment  of  twenty-five  years'  profound 
peace  in  the  command  of  the  Queen's  yacht. 

The  captain,  Trevenen  P.  Coode,  was  tall  and  thin, 
hooked-nosed  and  elderly,  much  bent  about  the  shoulders, 
with  a  habit  of  crossing  his  arms  and  folding  his  hands 
inside  his  sleeves.  He  was  a  taut  hand  and  a  fine  seaman. 
He  nearly  broke  my  heart,  old  martinet  that  he  was;  for 
I  was  mate  of  the  upper  deck  and  the  hull,  and  took  an 
immense  pride  in  keeping  them  immaculately  clean ;  but 
they  were  never  clean  enough  for  Captain  Trevenen  P.  Coode. 
In  those  days  we  had  little  bright- work,  but  plenty  of  white- 
wash and  blacking.  The  test  of  a  smart  ship  was  that  the 
lines  of  white  or  black  should  meet  with  absolute  accuracy ; 
and  a  fraction  of  error  would  be  visited  with  the  captain's 
severe  displeasure.  For  he  employed  condemnation  instead 
of  commendation. 

There  was  an  old  yarn  about  a  mate  of  the  main  deck, 
who  boasted  that  he  had  got  to  windward  of  his  captain. 
We  used  to  take  live  stock,  poultry  and  sheep  to  sea  in 
those  days.  The  captain  found  fault  with  the  mate  because 
the  fowls  and  coops  were  dirty.  The  mate  whitewashed 
the  chickens  and  blacked  their  legs  and  beaks.  Now  the 
poultry  in  question  belonged  to  the  captain.  Thereafter  the 
fowls  died. 

It  was  the  custom  for  the  admiral  to  take  a  cow  or  two 
VOL.  i.— 5 


66     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

to  sea,  and  the  officers  took  sheep  and  fowls.  There  is  a 
tradition  in  the  Navy  that  the  cow  used  to  be  milked  in  the 
middle  watch  for  the  benefit  of  the  officer  on  watch ;  and 
that,  in  order  that  the  admiral  should  get  his  allowance  of 
milk,  the  cow  was  filled  up  with  water  and  made  to  leap 
backwards  and  forwards  across  the  hatchways.  Another 
tradition  ordains  that  when  the  forage  for  the  sheep  ran 
short,  the  innocent  animals  were  fitted  with  green  spectacles, 
and  thus  equipped,  they  were  fed  on  shavings. 

When  we  put  into  Valparaiso  the  Spanish  fleet  was 
threatening  to  bombard  the  town.  Rather  more  than  a  year 
previously,  in  1864,  Spain  had  quarrelled  with  Chile,  alleging 
that  Chile  had  violated  neutrality,  and  had  committed  other 
offences.  In  March,  1864,  Spain  began  the  diplomatic  corre- 
spondence with  Chile  in  which  she  demanded  reparation, 
which  was  refused.  Chile  sent  artillery  and  troops  to  Val- 
paraiso. The  Spanish  admiral,  Pareja,  then  proclaimed  a 
blockade  of  the  Chilian  ports,  and  Chile  declared  war. 

The  European  residents  in  Valparaiso,  who  owned  an 
immense  amount  of  valuable  property  stored  in  the  custom- 
houses, were  terrified  at  the  prospect  of  a  bombardment,  and 
petitioned  Admiral  Denman  to  prevent  it.  An  American 
fleet  of  warships  was  also  lying  in  the  Bay.  Among  them 
was  the  Miantonomoh,  the  second  screw  ironclad  that  ever 
came  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  the  first  being  the 
Spanish  ironclad  Numancia. 

When  the  Miantonomoh  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  1866, 
The  Times  kindly  remarked  that  the  existing  British  Navy 
was  henceforth  useless,  and  that  most  of  its  vessels  "were 
only  fit  to  be  laid  up  and  '  painted  that  dirty  yellow  which  is 
universally  adopted  to  mark  treachery,  failure,  and  crime.' " 

The  British  and  American  admirals  consulted  together 
as  to  the  advisability  of  preventing  the  bombardment.  The 
prospect  of  a  fight  cheered  us  all;  and  we  entered  into 
elaborate  calculations  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  Spanish 
fleet  and  the  British-American  force.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
they  were  about  equal.  The  Spanish  admiral,  Nunez,  who 


STRICT  SERVICE  67 

had  succeeded  Pareja,  visited  the  Sutlej  and  conversed  with 
Admiral  Denman.  It  was  reported  by  the  midshipman  who 
was  A.D.C.  to  the  admiral  that,  upon  his  departure,  the 
Spaniard  had  said:  "Very  well,  Admiral  Denman,  you 
know  your  duty  and  I  know  mine."  The  information 
raised  our  hopes;  but  at  the  critical  moment  a  telegram 
forbidding  the  British  admiral  to  take  action  was  received 
from  the  British  Minister  at  Santiago. 

So  the  British  and  American  fleets  steamed  out  to  sea, 
while  the  Spaniards  fired  upon  Valparaiso  from  eight  in  the 
morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon,  setting  the  place  on  fire, 
and  then  retired  to  their  anchorage  outside.  The  British 
and  American  fleets  then  returned  to  the  Bay,  and  I 
accompanied  a  landing-party  to  help  to  extinguish  the 
conflagration. 

Five  of  us  were  standing  on  the  top  of  the  high  wall  of  a 
building  whose  roof  had  fallen  in,  so  that  the  whole  interior 
was  a  mass  of  burning  wreckage,  upon  which  we  were 
directing  the  hose,  when  the  men  below  shouted  that  the 
wall  was  falling.  We  slid  down  the  ladder,  and  no  sooner 
had  we  touched  the  ground  than  the  whole  wall  tottered  and 
fell  inwards. 

We  put  the  fires  out,  but  the  inhabitants  were  so  angry 
with  us  because  we  had  not  prevented  the  bombardment, 
that  they  requested  that  the  landing-party  should  be  sent 
back  to  their  ships.  Then  the  flames  broke  out  afresh.  For 
years  the  resentment  of  the  Valparaisians  remained  so  hot 
that  it  was  inadvisable  to  land  in  the  town  men  from  British 
ships. 

The  meeting  of  the  British  and  American  seamen  gave 
rise  to  much  discussion  concerning  the  respective  merits 
of  the  British  and  American  theories  of  gunnery.  The 
Americans  advocated  the  use  of  round  shot  to  deliver  a 
"racking  blow";  the  British  preferred  firing  a  pointed 
projectile  which  would  penetrate  the  target  instead  of 
merely  striking  it.  When  an  American  bluejacket  asked 
his  British  friend  to  explain  the  new  English  system  of 


68     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

shell-fire,  the  British  bluejacket  said:  "We  casts  our  shot 
for  the  new  gun  so  many  fathoms  long,  and  then,  d'ye  see, 
we  cuts  off  a  length  at  a  time,  regulatin'  the  length  required 
according  to  the  ship  we  uses  it  against.  For  your  ship, 
I  reckon  we  should  cut  off  about  three  and  a  half  inches." 

The  Spanish  fleet  was  afflicted  with  scurvy ;  and  we  used 
to  pull  over  to  the  Spanish  ships  in  the  evenings,  bringing 
the  officers  presents  of  chicken,  fresh  meat  and  fruit. 

Having  done  with  Valparaiso,  the  Spaniards  went  to 
Callao;  but  there  they  had  a  more  difficult  job;  for  Callao 
was  fortified,  and  the  Spaniards  were  considerably  damaged 
by  the  gun-fire  from  the  forts. 

During  the  progress  of  hostilities  between  the  Chilians 
and  the  Spaniards,  the  Chilians  constructed  one  of  the  first 
submarines.  It  was  an  American  invention  worked  by 
hand  and  ballasted  with  water.  The  Chilians  intended,  or 
hoped,  to  sink  the  Spanish  fleet  with  it.  The  submarine 
started  from  the  beach  on  this  enterprise ;  but  it  was  never 
seen  again.  It  simply  plunged  into  the  sea,  and  in  the  sea 
it  remains  to  this  day. 

We  left  Valparaiso  about  the  middle  of  April,  1866, 
and  proceeded  to  Vancouver.  On  the  way,  the  Sutlej  ran 
into  a  French  barque,  taking  her  foremast  and  bowsprit 
out  of  her.  Captain  Coode  stood  by  the  rail,  his  arms 
crossed,  his  hands  folded  in  his  sleeves,  looking  down  upon 
the  wreck  with  a  sardonic  grin,  while  the  French  captain, 
gesticulating  below,  shouted,  "  O  you  goddam  Englishman 
for  you  it  is  all-a-right,  but  for  it  it  is  not  so  nice ! " 

But  we  repaired  all  damages  so  that  at  the  latter  end 
he  was  better  off  than  when  he  started. 

We  arrived  at  Vancouver  early  in  June,  and  left  a  few 
days  later,  to  encounter  a  terrific  hurricane.  It  blew  from  the 
1 8th  June  to  the  22nd  June;  and  the  track  of  the  ship  on 
the  chart  during  those  four  days  looks  like  a  diagram  of 
cat's-cradle.  The  ship  was  much  battered,  and  her  boats 
were  lost.  On  this  occasion,  I  heard  the  pipe  go  "  Save  ship  " 
for  the  second  time  in  my  life. 


STRICT  SERVICE  69 

We  put  into  San  Francisco  to  refit.  Here  many  of  our 
men  deserted.  In  those  days,  it  was  impossible  to  prevent 
desertions  on  these  coasts,  although  the  sentries  on  board 
had  their  rifles  loaded  with  ball  cartridge.  Once  the  men 
had  landed  we  could  not  touch  them.  I  used  to  meet  th 
deserters  on  shore,  and  they  used  to  chaff  me.  As  we  had 
lost  our  boats,  the  American  dockyard  supplied  us  with 
some.  One  day  the  officer  of  the  watch  noticed  fourteen 
men  getting  into  the  cutter,  which  was  lying  at  the  boom. 
He  hailed  them  from  the  deck.  The  men,  returning  no 
answer,  promptly  pushed  off  for  the  shore.  The  officer  of 
the  watch  instantly  called  away  the  whaler,  the  only  other 
boat  available,  intending  to  send  a  party  in  pursuit.  But 
the  deserters  had  foreseen  that  contingency,  and  had  cut 
the  falls  just  inside  the  lowering  cleat,  so  that  the  whaler 
could  not  be  lowered. 

While  I  was  at  San  Francisco,  I  had  my  first  experience 
of  the  American  practical  view  of  a  situation.  Bound 
upon  a  shooting  excursion,  I  had  taken  the  train  to  Benicia, 
and  alighted  with  a  small  bag,  gun  and  cartridges.  I  asked 
a  railway  man  to  carry  my  bag  for  me  to  a  hack  (cab).  He 
looked  at  me,  and  said, 

"  Say,  is  it  heavy  ?  " 

"  No,"  I  said,  "  it  is  quite  light." 

"  Waal  then,"  said  he,  "  I  guess  you  can  carry  it  yourself." 
I  had  to,  so  I  did. 

Benicia  is  celebrated  as  the  birthplace  of  John  Heenan, 
the  "  Benicia  Boy,"  the  famous  American  boxer.  The  great 
fight  between  Heenan  and  Tom  Sayers  was  fought  at 
Farnborough  on  the  I7th  April,  1860.  Heenan  was  a  huge 
man,  six  feet  and  an  inch  in  height ;  Sayers,  Champion  of 
England,  five  feet  eight  inches.  The  fight  was  interrupted. 
Both  men  received  a  silver  belt.  I  remember  well  the  event 
of  the  fight,  though  I  was  not  present  at  it.  More  than 
three  years  afterwards,  in  December,  1863,  Tom  King  beat 
Heenan. 

From  San  Francisco  we  proceeded  to  Cape  Horn,  home- 


;o     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

ward  bound.  On  these  long  sailing  passages  we  used  to 
amuse  ourselves  by  spearing  fish.  Sitting  on  the  dolphin- 
striker  (the  spar  below  the  bowsprit)  we  harpooned  albacore 
and  bonito  and  dolphin,  which  is  not  the  dolphin  proper 
but  the  coryphee. 

We  rounded  the  Horn,  buffeted  by  the  huge  seas  of 
that  tempestuous  promontory.  On  that  occasion,  I  actually 
saw  the  Horn,  which  is  an  inconspicuous  island  beaten  upon 
by  the  great  waves,  standing  amid  a  colony  of  little  black 
islands.  And  off  Buenos  Aires  we  were  caught  in  a 
pampero,  the  hurricane  of  South  American  waters.  It  blew 
from  the  land ;  and  although  we  were  three  or  four  hundred 
miles  out  at  sea,  the  master  smelt  it  coming.  Indeed,  the 
whole  air  was  odorous  with  the  fragrance  of  new-mown  hay  ; 
and  then,  down  came  the  wind. 

We  were  bound  for  Portsmouth.  And  when  we  rounded 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  came  into  view  of  Spithead,  lo ! 
the  anchorage  was  filled  with  great  ships  all  stationed  in 
review  order.  They  were  assembled  for  a  review  to  be  held 
for  the  Sultan  of  Turkey. 

We  took  in  the  signal  containing  our  instructions,  and 
fired  a  salute;  and  then,  standing  in  under  all  plain  sail 
and  starboard  studdingsails,  we  sailed  right  through  the 
Fleet,  and  all  the  men  of  the  Fleet  crowded  rails  and  yards 
to  look  at  us,  and  cheered  us  down  the  lines.  For  the 
days  of  sails  were  passing  even  then ;  we  had  come  home 
from  the  ends  of  the  world ;  and  the  splendid  apparition 
of  a  full-rigged  man-of-war  standing  into  the  anchorage 
moved  every  sailor's  heart ;  so  that  many  officers  and  men 
have  since  told  me  that  the  Sutlej  sailing  into  Spithead 
through  the  lines  of  the  Fleet  was  the  finest  sight  it  was 
ever  their  fortune  to  behold. 

In  the  Tribune  and  in  the  Sutlej  \t  was  my  luck  to  serve 
under  two  of  the  strictest  and  best  captains  in  the  Service, 
Captain  Lord  Gillford  and  Captain  Trevenen  P.  Coode.  I 
may  be  forgiven  for  recalling  that  both  these  officers  added 
a  special  commendation  to  my  certificates ;  an  exceedingly 


STRICT  SERVICE  71 

rare  action  on  their  part,  and  in  the  case  of  Captain  Coode,  I 
think  the  first  instance  on  record. 

Part  of  the  test  for  passing  for  sub-lieutenant  was  bends 
and  hitches.  Captain  Lord  Gillford  was  highly  pleased  with 
a  white  line  which  I  had  spliced  an  eye  in  and  grafted  myself. 
Knowing  that  I  was  a  good  sailmaker,  he  once  made  me 
fetch  palm  and  canvas  and  sew  an  exhibition  seam  in  public. 

From  the  Sutlej  I  passed  into  the  H.M.S.  Excellent,  in 
order  to  prepare  for  the  examinations  in  gunnery.  In  those 
days,  the  Excellent  was  a  gunnery  school  ship  of  2311  tons, 
moored  in  the  upper  part  of  Portsmouth  Harbour.  The 
Excellent  gunnery  school  is  now  Whale  Island. 

While  in  the  Excellent  I  had  the  misfortune,  in  dismounting 
a  gun,  to  break  a  bone  in  my  foot;  and  although  the  injury 
seemed  to  heal  very  quickly  under  the  application  of  arnica, 
I  have  felt  its  effects  ever  since. 

In  1867  I  was  appointed  to  the  Research,  which  was 
stationed  at  Holyhead,  and  in  which  I  served  for  a  few 
months.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  alarm  felt  with  regard 
to  the  Fenians,  who  were  active  at  the  time,  and  the 
Research  was  ordered  to  look  out  for  them.  With  my 
messmates,  Caesar  Hawkins,  Lascelles,  and  Forbes,  I  hunted 
a  good  deal  from  Holyhead  with  Mr.  Panton's  hounds.  I  also 
hunted  with  the  Ward  Union  in  Ireland.  I  used  to  cross  from 
Holyhead  at  night,  hunt  during  the  day,  and  return  that  night. 

Among  other  memories  of  those  old  days,  I  remember 
that  my  brother  and  myself,  being  delayed  at  Limerick 
Junction,  occupied  the  time  in  performing  a  work  of  charity 
upon  the  porter,  whose  hair  was  of  an  immoderate  luxuriance. 
He  was — so  far  as  we  could  discover — neither  poet  nor 
musician,  and  was  therefore  without  excuse.  Nevertheless, 
he  refused  the  proffered  kindness.  Perceiving  that  he  was 
thus  blinded  to  his  own  interest,  we  gently  bound  him  hand 
and  foot  and  lashed  him  to  a  railway  truck.  I  possessed  a 
knife,  but  we  found  it  an  unsuitable  weapon :  my  brother 
.searched  the  station  and  found  a  pair  of  snuffers,  used  for 
trimming  the  station  lamps.  With  this  rude  but  practicable 


72     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

instrument  we  shore  the  locks  of  the  porter,  and  his  hair 
blew  all  about  the  empty  station  like  the  wool  of  a  sheep  at 
shearing-time.  When  it  was  done  we  made  him  suitable 
compensation. 

"  Sure,"  said  the  porter,  "  I'll  grow  my  hair  again  as 
quick  as  I  can  the  way  you'll  be  giving  me  another  tip." 

We  had  an  old  Irish  keeper  at  home,  whose  rule  in  life 
was  to  agree  with  everything  that  was  said  to  him.  Upon  a 
day  when  it  was  blowing  a  full  gale  of  wind,  I  said  to 
myself  that  I  would  get  to  windward  of  him  to-day  anyhow. 

"Well,  Harney,"  said  I.     "  It  is  a  fine  calm  day  to-day." 

"  You  may  say  that,  Lord  Char-less,  but  what  little  wind 
there  is,  is  terrible  strong,"  says  Harney. 

A  lady  once  said  to  him,  "  How  old  are  you,  Harney?" 

"  Och,  shure,  it's  very  ould  and  jaded  I  am,  it's  not  long 
I'll  be  for  this  worrld,"  said  he. 

"  Oh,"  said  she,  "  but  I'm  old,  too.  How  old  do  you 
think  I  am  ?  " 

"  Sure,  how  would  I  know  that  ?  But  whatever  age  ye  are, 
ye  don't  look  it,  Milady." 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   CRUISE   OF   H.M.S.    GALATEA 
I.  To  THE  ANTIPODES 

AFTER  a  brief  spell  in  the  royal  yacht,  I  was  promoted 
out  of  her  to  lieutenant,  and  was  appointed  to  the 
Galatea,  Captain  H.R.H.  Alfred  Ernest  Albert,  Duke 
of  Edinburgh,  K.G.,  K.T. 

H.M.S.  Galatea  had  four  months  previously  returned  from 
the  long  cruise  of  seventeen  months,  24th  January,  1867,  to 
26th  June,  1868,  during  which  the  Duke  visited  South  Africa 
and  Australasia.  While  he  was  in  Australia,  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  assassinate  his  Royal  Highness,  who  had  a 
very  narrow  escape.  The  pistol  was  fired  at  the  range  of 
a  few  feet,  and  the  bullet,  entering  the  Duke's  back,  struck  a 
rib  and  ran  round  the  bone,  inflicting  a  superficial  wound. 
A  full  account  of  the  voyage  is  contained  in  The  Cruise  of 
H.M.S.  Galatea,  by  the  Rev.  John  Milner  and  Oswald  W. 
Brierley  (London,  1869 ;  W.  H.  Allen).  The  Galatea  frigate 
was  built  at  Woolwich  and  launched  in  1859.  She  was  of 
3227  tons  burthen,  800  h.p. ;  she  was  pierced  for  26  guns; 
maindeck,  18  guns,  loinch,  86  cwt,  and  4  guns,  lo-inch, 
6£  tons  ;  on  the  quarterdeck,  2  guns,  rifled,  64-pounders  ;  in 
the  forecastle,  2  guns,  rifled,  64-pounders.  The  6^-ton  guns 
threw  a  shot  of  1 1 5  lb.,  and  a  large  double-shell  weighing 
156  lb.  She  stowed  700  tons  of  coal  and  72  tons  of  water. 
Previously  the  Galatea,  commanded  by  Captain  Rochfort 
Maguire,  had  been  employed  from  1862  to  1866  in  the  Baltic, 
and  on  the  Mediterranean  and  West  Indian  stations.  She 

73 


74     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

took  part  in  the  suppression  of  the  insurrection  at  Jamaica, 
and,  after  the  loss  of  H.M.S.  Bulldog,  destroyed  the  batteries 
on  Cape  Haitien.  Her  sister  ship  was  the  Ariadne,  and 
Admiral  Penrose  Fitzgerald,  who  served  in  the  Ariadne,  in 
1861,  writes:  "It  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  she 
and  her  sister  ship,  the  Galatea,  were  the  two  finest  wooden 
frigates  ever  built  in  this  or  any  other  country "  (Memories 
of  the  Sea).  Personally,  I  am  inclined  to  consider,  that  fine 
sailor  as  the  Galatea  was,  the  Sutlej  was  finer  still. 

The  Duke  of  Edinburgh  was  an  admirable  seaman.  He 
had  a  great  natural  ability  for  handling  a  fleet,  and  he  would 
have  made  a  first-class  fighting  admiral.  The  Duke's 
urbanity  and  kindness  won  the  affection  of  all  who  knew 
him.  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  many  acts  of  kindness, 
and  I  was  quite  devoted  to  him. 

The  voyage  of  the  Galatea  lasted  for  two  years  and  a  half. 
We  visited  Cape  Town,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Tahiti,  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  Japan,  China,  India,  and  the  Falkland 
Islands.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  describe  that  long  cruise 
in  detail ;  but  rather  to  record  those  incidents  which  emerge 
from  the  capricious  haze  of  memory.  In  many  respects,  the 
second  long  voyage  of  the  Galatea  was  a  repetition  of  her 
first  voyage,  so  elaborately  chronicled  by  the  Rev.  John 
Milner  and  Mr.  Brierley.  In  every  part  of  the  Queen's 
dominions  visited  by  her  son,  the  Duke  was  invariably 
received  with  the  greatest  loyalty  and  enthusiasm.  It 
should  be  understood  throughout  that,  when  his  ship  was 
not  in  company,  or  was  in  company  with  a  ship  commanded 
by  an  officer  junior  to  his  Royal  Highness,  he  was  received 
as  the  Queen's  son ;  but  when  a  senior  officer  was  present, 
the  Duke  ranked  in  the  order  of  his  seniority  in  the  Service. 

We  left  Plymouth  early  in  November,  1868,  and  once 
more  I  was  afloat  in  a  crack  sailing  ship,  smart  and  well 
found  in  every  detail,  and  once  more  I  entered  into  the 
charm  of  the  life  in  which  above  all  I  delighted.  We 
touched  at  Madeira,  where  I  grieve  to  say  some  of  the 
junior  officers  captured  a  goat  and  some  other  matters  during 


H.R.H.  ALFRED  ERNEST  ALBERT,  DUKE  OF  EDINBURGH,  K.G.,  K.T. 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  75 

a  night  on  shore  ;  touched  at  St.  Vincent ;  and  arrived  at 
Cape  Town  on  Christmas  Day. 

At  Cape  Town,  my  set  of  tandem  harness  came  again 
into  requisition.  From  the  Cape  we  proceeded  to  Perth. 
The  fact  that  an  attempt  upon  his  life  had  been  made  in 
Australia,  was  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  Duke  chose  to  pay 
the  Colony  another  visit. 

Upon  a  part  of  our  voyage  to  Australia  we  were  accom- 
panied by  my  old  ship,  the  Clio,  and  so  admirably  handled 
was  she,  that  she  sometimes  beat  the  Galatea  in  sailing.  In 
every  place  to  which  we  went  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand, 
we  received  the  most  unbounded  hospitality,  of  which  I  shall 
always  retain  the  most  pleasant  recollections.  We  were 
asked  everywhere  ;  livery  stables  were  put  at  the  disposal  of 
the  officers  ;  we  went  to  shooting  parties,  and  to  every  kind 
of  festivity. 

At  Perth  I  visited  the  convict  settlement ;  and  there  I 
found  a  relative  or  connection  of  the  Beresford  family,  who 
had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  transported  for  forgery. 
He  appeared  to  be  a  most  respectable  old  gentleman,  and 
(with  the  permission  of  the  governor)  I  presented  him  with 
a  small  cheque.  Alas  !  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  sight 
of  my  signature  awoke  the  ruling  passion ;  and  my  gentleman 
promptly  forged  a  bill  of  exchange  for  £50,  and  (as  I 
found  when  I  came  home)  got  it  cashed. 

It  was  in  Perth,  too,  that  I  visited  a  prisoner,  a  fellow- 
Irishman,  who  had  been  convicted  of  murder.  He  had  been 
a  soldier,  and  had  slain  his  corporal  and  his  sergeant.  This 
man  inspired  me  with  some  ideas  with  regard  to  criminals 
which  later  in  life  I  tried  to  put  into  practice ;  and  also 
aroused  in  me  an  interest  in  prisons  and  prison  discipline 
which  I  have  always  retained.  He  was  a  gigantic  person,  of 
immense  physical  strength,  with  receding  forehead  and  a 
huge  projecting  jaw.  He  was  considered  to  be  dangerous  ; 
five  or  six  warders  accompanied  me  into  his  cell ;  and  they 
spoke  to  him  as  though  he  were  a  dog.  I  looked  at  the 
man's  eyes ;  and  I  was  convinced  then,  as  I  am  convinced 


76     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

now,  that  his  intellect  was  impaired.  Criminal  psychology 
then  hardly  existed  ;  and  although  it  is  now  recognised  as 
a  science,  it  must  be  said  that  existing  penal  conditions 
are  still  in  many  respects  awaiting  reform.  Subsequent 
experience  has  proved  to  me  that  I  was  right  in  believing 
that  many  crimes  of  violence  are  due  to  a  lesion  of  the 
brain,  and  cannot  therefore  be  treated  as  moral  offences.  I 
heard  some  time  subsequently  that  the  Irishman  had  been 
shot  for  the  attempted  murder  of  a  warder.  Perth  and  New 
South  Wales  were  the  only  places  in  the  British  Dominions 
in  which  there  was  a  death  penalty  for  attempted  murder. 

I  may  here  mention  that  in  after  years  I  was  appointed, 
together  with  the  (late)  Duke  of  Fife,  as  civil  inspector  of 
prisons;  an  office  which  I  held  for  a  year  or  two.  I  was 
able  to  institute  a  reform  in  the  system  then  in  force  of 
mulcting  prisoners  of  good  conduct  marks.  These  were 
deducted  in  advance,  before  the  man  had  earned  them,  if  he 
gave  trouble.  A  prisoner  sentenced  to  a  long  term — who 
usually  gives  trouble  during  his  first  two  years — found,  when 
he  began  to  run  straight,  that  good  marks  he  earned  had 
been  deducted  in  advance.  I  was  able  to  change  the  system, 
so  that  no  marks  should  be  deducted  before  they  were 
earned. 

It  was  after  I  had  been  placed  in  command  of  the  police 
at  Alexandria,  in  1882,  that  I  was  offered  the  post  of  chief 
commissioner  of  police  in  the  Metropolis ;  and  I  was 
honoured  by  a  gracious  message  from  a  very  distinguished 
personage,  expressing  a  hope  that  I  would  accept  the 
appointment;  but,  as  I  wished  to  remain  in  the  Navy,  I 
declined  it. 

We  returned  to  Australia  on  our  homeward  voyage,  but 
for  the  sake  of  convenience  I  may  here  deal  with  the  two 
visits  as  one.  At  Sydney,  I  purchased  a  pair  of  horses. 
They  were  reputed  to  be  runaways,  and  I  bought  them  for 
£g  a  pair,  and  I  drove  them  tandem  with  ring  snaffle  bits. 
They  never  ran  away  with  me — except  once.  When  they 
came  into  my  possession,  I  found  that  their  mouths  were 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  77 

sore,  and  I  did  what  I  could  to  cure  them.  Many  a  drive  I 
had,  and  all  went  well.  Then  one  day  we  all  drove  to  a 
picnic.  The  Duke,  who  was  very  fond  of  coaching,  drove  a 
coach.  I  drove  my  tandem,  taking  with  me  the  commander, 
Adeane.  On  the  way  home,  the  road  was  down  a  steep  hill. 
We  were  beginning  to  descend,  when  one  of  the  Duke's 
mounted  orderlies  mixed  himself  up  with  the  traces  between 
the  leader  and  the  wheeler.  The  leader,  taking  fright, 
bolted,  and  the  sudden  tightening  of  the  traces  jerked  the 
orderly  head  over  heels  into  the  bush.  Away  we  went  down 
the  hill  as  hard  as  the  horses  could  gallop.  The  next  thing 
I  saw  was  a  train  of  carts  laden  with  mineral  waters  coming 
up  the  hill  and  blocking  the  whole  road.  The  only  way  to 
avoid  disaster  was  to  steer  between  a  telegraph  pole  and  the 
wall.  It  was  a  near  thing,  but  we  did  it.  I  gave  the  reins 
of  one  horse  to  the  commander  and  held  on  to  the  reins  of 
the  other. 

Then  I  was  aware,  in  that  furious  rush,  of  a  melancholy 
voice,  speaking  close  beside  me.  It  was  the  voice  of  the 
commander,  speaking,  unknown  to  himself,  the  thoughts  of 
his  heart,  reckoning  the  chances  of  mishap  and  how  long 
they  would  take  to  repair.  It  said  :  "  An  arm,  an  arm,  an 
arm — a  month.  A  leg,  a  leg,  a  leg — six  weeks.  A  neck,  a 
neck,  a  neck — O  !  my  God !  "  And  so  on,  over  and  over, 
saying  the  same  words.  Thus  did  Jerry  Adeane,  the 
commander,  think  aloud  according  to  his  habit.  He 
continued  his  refrain  until  we  pulled  up  on  the  next  rise. 

"  Thank  God,  that's  over,"  said  Jerry  Adeane. 

Before  leaving  Australia,  I  sold  my  pair  of  horses  for 
more  than  I  gave  for  them. 

When  the  Galatea  was  in  New  Zealand,  Sir  George  Grey, 
who  owned  an  island  called  the  Kanwah,  gave  me  permis- 
sion to  shoot  there.  He  had  stocked  it  for  years  with  every 
sort  of  wild  bird  and  beast.  Indigenous  to  the  island  were 
wild  boar  and  wild  cattle,  which  were  supposed  to  have  been 
turned  down  there  by  the  buccaneers.  I  landed  early  one 
morning  to  stalk  the  wild  cattle,  with  my  servant,  a  pulpy, 


7  8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

bulbous  sort  of  rotten  fellow  who  hated  walking.  He  carried 
my  second  rifle.  We  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  hill  with  the 
wind  against  us,  to  get  a  spy  round.  When  I  came  near 
the  top,  I  perceived  the  unmistakable  smell  of  cattle ;  and, 
on  reaching  the  top,  there,  within  thirty  yards  of  me,  were  a 
great  black  bull  and  two  cows. 

The  bull  saw  me.  He  shook  his  head  savagely,  bellowed, 
pawed  the  ground,  put  his  head  about,  and  charged  straight 
for  me.  I  was  standing  in  a  thick  sort  of  tea  scrub  which 
was  level  with  my  shoulders,  so  that  I  could  see  only  the 
beast's  back  as  he  charged.  I  thought  it  was  of  no  use  to 
fire  at  his  back ;  and,  remembering  that  the  scrub  was  thin, 
having  only  stems  underneath,  I  dropped  on  my  knee, 
hoping  to  see  his  head.  Fortunately,  I  was  able  to  see  it 
plainly.  I  fired,  and  he  dropped  within  about  five  yards 
of  me. 

I  said  to  my  man  : 

"  Well,  that  was  lucky ;  he  might  have  got  us." 

As  there  was  no  reply,  I  turned  round,  and  saw  my  trusty 
second  gun  half-way  down  the  hill,  running  like  a  hare.  I 
was  so  angry  that  I  felt  inclined  to  give  him  my  second 
barrel.  On  returning  on  board  I  dispensed  with  his 
services,  and  engaged  a  good  old  trusty  Marine  to  look 
after  me. 

I  killed  six  of  these  wild  cattle  altogether,  and  a  landing 
party  bringing  them  off  to  the  ship,  there  was  beef  enough 
for  the  whole  ship's  company. 

There  was  a  number  of  sheep  on  the  island,  under  the 
care  of  a  shepherd  named  Raynes,  who  was  a  sort  of  keeper 
in  Sir  George's  service.  He  said  to  me, "  You  have  not  killed 
a  boar  yet.  Come  with  me  to-morrow,  and  I  will  take  you 
where  we  can  find  one."  I  said,  "  All  right,  I  will  come  at 
four  o'clock  to-morrow  and  bring  my  rifle."  "  No,"  said  he, 
"  don't  bring  a  rifle,  bring  a  knife.  I  always  kill  them  with 
a  knife." 

I  thought  he  was  chaffing,  but  I  said,  "  All  right,  I  will 
bring  a  knife,  but  I  shall  bring  my  rifle  as  well." 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  79 

In  the  morning  he  met  me  at  the  landing-stage  with 
three  dogs,  one  a  small  collie,  and  two  heavy  dogs  like  half- 
bred  mastiffs,  held  in  a  leash.  We  walked  about  three  miles 
to  a  thick  swampy  place,  with  rushes  and  tussocks.  He 
chased  the  collie  into  the  bush,  and  in  about  twenty  minutes 
we  heard  the  collie  barking  furiously.  Raynes  told  me  to 
follow  him  close,  and  not  on  any  account  to  get  in  front  of 
him.  The  heavy  dogs  fairly  pulled  him  through  the  bush. 
We  soon  came  up  to  the  collie,  and  found  him  with  an 
immense  boar  in  a  small  open  space. 

Raynes  slipped  the  heavy  dogs,  who  went  straight  for 
the  boar,  and  seized  him,  one  by  the  ear  and  the  other  by 
the  throat.  The  boar  cut  both  the  dogs,  one  badly.  When 
they  had  a  firm  hold,  Raynes  ran  in  from  behind,  seized  one 
of  the  boar's  hind  legs,  and  passing  it  in  front  of  the  other 
hind  leg,  gave  a  violent  pull,  and  the  boar  fell  on  its  side. 
Raynes  immediately  killed  it  with  his  knife,  by  stabbing  it 
behind  the  shoulder.  I  never  saw  a  quicker  or  a  more 
skilful  performance. 

I  suggested  to  Raynes  that  I  should  like  to  try  it. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  we  will  try  and  find  a  light  sow 
to-morrow.  A  boar  would  cut  you  if  you  were  not 
quick." 

On  the  following  day,  we  got  a  sow,  but  I  made  an 
awful  mess  of  it,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  heavy  dogs, 
she  would  have  cut  me  badly;  as  it  was,  she  bowled  me 
over  in  the  mud  before  I  killed  her. 

In  New  Zealand,  we  went  up  to  the  White  Springs  and 
we  all  bathed  with  the  Maories.  You  stand  in  the  water 
warm  as  milk,  close  beside  springs  of  boiling  water,  and 
occasionally  a  jet  of  steam  makes  you  jump.  The  person 
of  one  of  the  guests,  a  very  portly  gentleman,  suggested  a 
practical  joke  to  the  Maori  boys  and  girls,  who  dived  in  and 
swam  up  to  him  under  water,  pinched  him  and  swam  away 
with  yells  of  laughter.  The  old  boy,  determined  to  preserve 
harmony,  endured  the  torment  with  an  agonised  pretence  of 
enjoyment.  "  Very  playful,  very  playful ! "  he  kept  miserably 


8o     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

repeating.    "  Oh,  very  playful  indeed.     Tanaqui  (how  do  you 
do),  Tanaqui," 

We  had  an  excellent  lunch,  of  pig,  fowls,  and  yams,  all 
boiled  on  the  spot  in  the  hot  springs.  I  saw  a  live  pig  chased 
by  some  Maori  children  into  a  hot  spring,  and  it  was  boiled 
in  a  moment. 

In  this  region  I  rode  over  soil  which  was  exactly  like 
dust-shot;  the  whole  ground  apparently  consisting  of  ore. 
We  visited  the  White  Terraces,  where,  if  you  wrote  your 
name  in  pencil  upon  the  cliffs,  the  silicate  would  preserve 
the  legend  as  if  it  were  raised  or  embroidered.  Some  of  the 
signatures  had  been  there  for  years.  I  have  since  heard  that 
the  place  was  destroyed  by  volcanic  eruption. 

We  witnessed  the  weird  and  magnificent  war  dances  of 
the  Maoris.  Never  have  I  seen  finer  specimens  of  humanity 
than  these  men.  When,  after  leaping  simultaneously  into 
the  air,  they  all  came  to  the  ground  together,  the  impact 
sounded  like  the  report  of  a  gun.  A  party  of  the  Chiefs 
came  to  pay  a  ceremonial  visit  to  the  Duke.  It  struck  me 
that  they  looked  hungry,  and  I  said  so.  They  want  cheering 
up,  I  said.  I  went  to  forage  for  them.  I  took  a  huge  silver 
bowl,  and  filled  it  with  chicken,  whisky,  lobster,  beef,  cham- 
pagne, biscuits  and  everything  else  I  could  find,  and  presented 
it  to  them.  You  never  saw  warriors  more  delighted.  They 
ate  the  whole,  using  their  fingers,  and  were  greatly  cheered. 

It  was  in  New  Zealand  that  I  had  an  interesting  con- 
versation with  a  cannibal — or  rather,  an  ex-cannibal.  I 
asked  him  if  he  ever  craved  for  human  flesh,  and  he  said  no, 
not  now — unless  he  happened  to  see  a  plump  woman.  In 
that  case,  he  said  he  lusted  for  the  flesh  of  the  ball  of  the 
thumb,  which  (he  gave  me  to  understand)  was  the  prime 
delicacy. 

Some  of  the  half-caste  women  were  of  great  beauty. 
Their  savage  blood  endowed  them  with  something  of  the 
untamed,  implacable  aspect  of  their  ancestry.  I  heard  of 
one  such  woman,  who,  outwardly  attuned  to  every  tenet  of 
white  civilisation,  and  received  everywhere  in  white  society, 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  81 

suddenly  reverted.  A  native  rebellion  breaking  out,  she 
rejoined  her  tribe  and  slew  a  missionary  with  her  uteri — 
the  native  chiefs  badge  of  office.  She  cut  off  the  top  of  the 
missionary's  skull,  and  used  it  thereafter  as  a  drinking- vessel. 
Poor  lady,  she  was  (I  heard)  eventually  captured  and  was 
executed. 


VOL.  L — 6 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA     (Continued} 
II.  MY  Two  FAITHFUL  SERVANTS 

THEY  came  to  me  first  in  the  Galatea,  so  that  their 
story  may  fitly  be  related  in  this  place.  Tom  Fat 
the  China  boy  came  to  me  at  Kowloon.  He  was 
brought  to  me  by  his  uncle,  who  desired  to  dispose  of  his 
nephew,  for  a  consideration.  The  consideration  was  £$. 
Lest  I  should  be  accused  of  Chinese  slavery — and  anything 
is  possible  in  these  days — I  should  explain  that  the  fiver 
was  not  the  price  of  Tom  Fat,  but  was  in  the  nature  of  a 
delicate  compliment  paid  to  his  uncle.  Tom  was  a  free  boy ; 
he  was  entered  in  the  ship's  books  as  my  servant,  at  so  much 
wages  per  month.  Not  that  he  valued  his  wages  particu- 
larly ;  he  had  wider  views.  He  was  an  invaluable  servant, 
clever,  orderly,  indefatigable  and  devoted.  I  attired  him  in 
gorgeous  silks,  and  he  bore  my  crest  with  perfect  unassum- 
ing dignity.  He  kept  my  purse,  and  expended  my  money 
with  prudence,  even  with  generosity.  When  I  wanted 
money,  Tom  Fat  had  plenty  of  ready  cash.  I  sometimes 
wondered  how  it  was  that  he  always  seemed  to  be  provided 
with  a  margin,  for  I  was  not  conscious  of  practising  economy. 
The  fact  was,  I  was  careless  in  those  days,  and  kept  no 
accounts.  It  was  not  until  he  had  been  in  my  service  for 
some  years,  that  I  discovered  the  secret  of  his  wealth.  It 
was  simple  enough.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  forging  cheques. 
Altogether,  he  forged  cheques  for  nearly  twelve  hundred 

pounds.     How  much  of  that  amount  he  kept  for  himself  1 

82 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  83 

never  knew ;  but  it  is  certain  that  a  great  deal  of  it  he  spent 
upon  me.  Nor  do  I  know  why  he  did  not  ask  for  a  cheque 
instead  of  forging  it.  Apparently  it  was  a  point  of  honour 
with  Tom  not  to  ask  for  money.  When  I  asked  him  if  he 
wanted  a  cheque  to  defray  expenses,  he  usually  replied 
cheerfully  that  he  had  no  need  of  it.  Certainly  he  acquired 
a  reputation  for  economy  by  these  means. 

His  methods  were  subtle.  He  was  well  aware  that  I 
kept  no  private  account  book  of  my  own,  and  that  my 
bankers  did  not  enter  the  names  of  payees  in  my  pass-book, 
but  only  the  numbers  of  the  cheques  cashed,  and  also  that 
the  bank  returned  cashed  cheques  from  time  to  time.  On 
these  occasions,  Tom,  finding  pass-book  and  cashed  cheques 
among  my  papers,  would  abstract  both  the  counterfoils  and 
the  cheques  which  he  had  forged,  knowing  that  as  I  should 
not  take  the  trouble  to  compare  the  numbers  of  the  cheques 
with  the  numbers  in  the  pass-book,  I  should  not  notice  that 
some  cheques  were  missing.  He  was  always  careful  to 
arrange  that  the  last  counterfoil  filled  up — at  which  one 
naturally  looks — should  be  that  of  my  cheque  and  not  that 
of  his ;  and  he  never  drew  large  sums,  varying  his  amounts 
between  £$  and  £20,  except  on  one  occasion,  when  he 
forged  a  cheque  for  £50.  The  Oriental  mind  is  inscrutable ; 
but  whether  or  no  Tom  considered  that  he  was  robbing  me ; 
whether,  if  he  considered  that  he  was  robbing  me,  he  be- 
lieved he  was  justified  in  so  doing;  he  took  the  most 
sedulous  care  that  no  one  else  should  enjoy  that  privilege. 

Tom  was  universally  popular.  I  took  him  everywhere 
with  me.  In  his  way,  he  was  a  sportsman.  One  day, 
hunting  with  the  Duke  of  Beaufort's  hounds,  I  mounted 
him  on  a  skewbald  pony.  We  came  to  a  nasty  slippery 
place,  a  bad  take-off,  a  wall  to  jump,  and  the  road  beyond. 
Tom's  pony  took  it  safely.  A  big,  hard-riding  guardsman 
who  was  coming  up  behind  us,  not  liking  the  look  of  the 
place,  shouted  to  me,  "  Is  it  all  right? " 

"  That  hideous  Chinaman  has  just  done  it ! "  I  shouted 
back.  Not  to  be  outdone  by  a  Chinaman,  the  guardsman 


84     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

rode  at  the  fence,  his  horse  went  down,  and  he  got  a 
dreadful  toss.  When  he  got  up,  he  was  furiously  angry 
with  me. 

When  Tom  had  been  with  me  for  some  years,  he  came 
to  me  and  said,  "  Master,  you  never  give  me  leave !  You 
give  others  leave  but  not  me  leave.  I  want  leave." 

The  request  was  reasonable  enough,  and  I  sent  Tom  to 
my  house  in  town,  there  to  amuse  himself  for  a  week.  At 
the  end  of  the  week  he  did  not  return.  He  was  reported 
missing.  I  advertised  for  him,  offering  a  reward.  The  next 
day  he  was  arrested  at  the  Criterion  Restaurant,  being  one 
of  a  party  of  thirteen  (of  whom  twelve  were  ladies)  to  whom 
Tom  was  about  to  play  the  host. 

It  turned  out  that  during  his  week  in  town,  my  faithful 
servant  had  spent  £70.  He  had  also  raised  money  at  one 
of  my  clubs. 

"  Lord  Charles  want  twenty-five  pounds,"  he  said  to  the 
porter,  who  took  him  to  the  cashier. 

"  His  lordship  must  give  me  his  I.O.U.,"  says  the  cashier. 

"  What  thing  that  ?  "  says  Tom. 

The  cashier  explained. 

"All-light,"  says  the  man  of  resource,  and  promptly 
forged  my  I.O.U.  for  thirty-five  pounds. 

"  You  said  twenty-five,"  remarked  the  cashier. 

"  I  tink  Lord  Charles  like  little  more,"  Tom  replied. 

Of  course,  the  cashier  sent  me  the  document.  When  I 
investigated  Tom's  transactions,  I  found  a  few  of  his  forged 
cheques  in  the  bank,  and  I  could  hardly  tell  the  difference 
between  my  signature  and  his  forgeries.  The  cheque-books 
were  compared  with  the  pass-book,  and  counterfoils  were 
found  to  be  missing.  I  took  legal  action  against  him,  and 
he  was  sentenced  to  five  years.  Shortly  afterwards,  when 
I  was  in  Scotland,  I  received  a  letter  from  the  hapless  Tom, 
saying  he  was  dying,  and  asking  me  to  come  and  see  him. 
I  went  at  once.  I  found  him  in  the  infirmary,  a  dying 
man  indeed,  with  his  face  to  the  wall.  A  Chinaman  dies 
at  will.  He  simply  lies  down  and  dies ;  but  by  the  same 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  85 

token,  he  can  continue  to  live.  So  I  determined  to  rouse 
him.  I  hailed  him  in  a  loud  and  cheerful  voice. 

"  Tom  !  Cheer  up,  Tom  !  What's  the  matter  ?  You're 
not  ill.  Rouse  up." 

"  Me  die,  master,"  said  Tom. 

"  Not  you,"  I  said.  "  Come !  Cheer  up,  and  I'll  try  to 
get  you  out  of  this." 

And  sure  enough,  he  turned  back,  became  quite  well, 
and  I  secured  his  release  after  he  had  served  a  short  term. 
I  found  him  a  place  in  China,  sent  him  East,  and  never  saw 
him  again.  When  I  went  to  China  subsequently,  I  failed 
to  find  him.  After  his  interval  of  Western  service,  China 
took  him  and  swallowed  him  up.  And  that  was  the  end  of 
Tom  Fat. 

He  was  in  my  service  when,  upon  the  return  voyage  to 
Australia  of  the  Galatea,  we  touched  at  Mauritius.  In  that 
strange  island  I  came  across  a  youthful  negro  savage.  I 
learned  his  history  from  his  master,  an  amiable  French 
gentleman.  Punch,  as  I  named  him,  had  been  brought  to 
Mauritius  by  a  British  cruiser.  The  warship  had  chased  a 
slaver,  whose  crew  jettisoned  the  slaves.  They  were  fettered 
in  chains  and  hove  over  the  side.  When  the  British  sea- 
men boarded  the  vessel  they  found  her  holds  empty,  except 
for  the  odour.  In  a  dark  corner  was  stowed  a  bundle  of 
rags,  into  which  a  bluejacket  thrust  his  cutlass.  The  rags 
sprang  to  life  with  a  yell,  and  there  was  Punch  with  a 
wound  in  his  thigh,  of  which  he  carried  the  scar  to  his  end. 

It  occurred  to  me  that  Punch  would  serve  me  for  a  groom, 
and  I  said  so  to  his  master. 

"  Tiens  !  "  said  that  gentleman  pleasantly.  "  You  shall 
have  him  for  five  shilling." 

"  Done ! "  said  I,  and  paid  him  the  money.  He  did  not 
think  I  was  serious ;  but  he  made  no  bones  about  ridding 
himself  of  his  garden-boy. 

Punch  was  the  most  hideous  savage  I  have  ever  viewed. 
He  was  black  as  a  boot ;  even  his  lips  were  black ;  his  face 
was  seamed  with  the  cicatrices  which  were  the  totem  marks 


86     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

of  his  tribe,  whatever  that  may  have  been  ;  and  his  counten- 
ance was  exactly  like  the  countenance  of  a  bull-dog.  The 
scars  wrinkled  his  cheeks,  like  a  bull-dog's  jowl.  He  was 
densely  stupid,  and  wild  of  temper.  He  attacked  one  of  the 
men  on  board  with  his  teeth.  But  he  was  utterly  fearless, 
and  although  he  knew  nothing  about  horses,  he  was  never 
afraid  of  them.  He  was  apparently  constructed  of  india- 
rubber.  Nothing  hurt  him.  When  I  drove  a  tandem,  it 
was  his  duty  as  tiger  to  spring  up  behind  as  we  started. 
But  as  my  horses  started  at  speed,  Punch  had  not  always 
time  to  run  from  their  heads  to  the  back  of  the  vehicle. 
I  have  known  him  catch  a  spoke  of  the  wheel  and  be 
whirled  into  the  air,  and  the  wheel  to  pass  over  him,  without 
harming  him  in  the  least. 

At  a  race  meeting  in  Australia,  Punch  begged  for  a 
mount,  and  I  borrowed  a  horse,  which  galloped  away  down 
the  course,  Punch  clinging  to  him  with  arms  and  legs 
exactly  like  a  monkey.  He  took  two  big  fences  like  a  bird  ; 
but  at  the  third,  the  horse  breasted  it,  fell  backwards  and 
rolled  over  upon  his  rider.  I  thought  he  was  killed,  but  he 
wasn't.  He  was  not  even  damaged. 

When  I  went  on  half-pay,  I  placed  Punch  in  the  stables. 
The  women  servants  took  a  fancy  to  him  ;  but  Punch, 
whatever  he  may  have  thought  of  the  women,  had  no  love 
for  the  head  groom,  in  whose  arm  he  made  his  teeth  meet. 
So  I  found  him  a  billet  in  a  hairdresser's  shop,  which  bore 
the  legend,  "  Hairbrushing  by  machinery."  Punch  was 
the  machinery.  I  saw  him  at  it,  turning  a  wheel  in  the 
window.  I  never  saw  him  again,  and  know  not  what  became 
of  him. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA     (Continued} 
III.  TAHITI  AND  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS 

WE  arrived  at  Tahiti  in  June,  1869.  Here  is  the 
most  lovely  climate  in  the  world.  The  inhabitants 
never  seemed  to  do  any  work,  with  the  single 
exception  of  carrying  bananas.  In  this  exercise  they  were 
extraordinarily  expert,  bearing  enormous  weights  upon  the 
shoulders,  the  skin  of  which  becomes  hard  like  leather.  I 
considered  myself  to  be  fairly  strong ;  but  when  I  tried  to 
carry  one  of  the  masses  of  bananas  under  which  the  natives 
march  swiftly  all  day  long,  up  hill  and  down,  I  found  that 
I  was  able  to  carry  it  only  for  a  short  distance,  and  with 
difficulty,  on  level  ground.  The  people  were  perfectly 
delightful.  We  went  ashore  and  lived  among  them  ;  and  it 
was  then  that  I  understood  how  it  was  that  the  men  of  the 
Bounty  mutinied.  The  fact  was  that  those  discontented 
mariners  could  not  bear  to  leave  islands  so  delectable.  I  do 
not,  of  course,  desire  to  justify  their  very  reprehensible 
conduct.  All  I  say  is  that  I  can  understand  the  strength  of 
its  motive.  It  was  simply  the  desire  to  remain  in  an  earthly 
paradise  which  inspired  the  men  of  the  Bounty  when  they 
left  Otaheite  in  April,  1789,  to  set  Captain  Bligh  adrift  in 
an  open  boat,  with  the  nineteen  men  who  stayed  by  him,  and 
a  small  stock  of  provisions.  The  captain  and  his  men  made 
an  astonishing  voyage  of  nearly  4000  miles,  and  fetched  up 
at  the  island  of  Timor,  south  of  the  Malaccas,  in  the 

following  June.     Some  of  the  mutineers  were  subsequently 

87 


88     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

brought  to  justice  in  the  year  1792.  Six  of  them  were 
condemned  and  three  were  executed.  In  1814  it  was 
discovered  that  ten  among  the  mutineers  had  colonised 
Pitcairn  Island. 

We  in  the  Galatea  stayed  at  Tahiti  as  long  as  we 
possibly  could,  and  enjoyed  every  moment  of  the  time. 
One  of  our  amusements  was  to  float  down  a  narrow  and 
swift  stream  and  shoot  the  waterfall.  At  a  point  some 
little  distance  from  the  coast,  the  stream  ran  deep  and  rapid 
between  banks  which  were  about  three  feet  apart.  The 
natives,  boys  and  girls,  used  to  drop  into  the  stream  and  let 
themselves  be  carried  down  feet  foremost  to  a  waterfall, 
which  descended  some  40  or  50  feet  in  a  wide  pool;  and 
it  occurred  to  me  that  what  they  could  do,  I  could  accom- 
plish. I  watched  these  intrepid  children  very  carefully, 
and  I  observed  that  they  always  came  to  the  surface  some 
distance  away  from  the  fall.  In  spite  of  some  dissuasion,  I 
determined  to  attempt  the  enterprise.  I  floated  down  the 
stream  feet  foremost,  shot  the  fall,  and  the  moment  I  reached 
the  foot  of  it  I  struck  out  under  water.  I  was  amazed  to 
find  that  the  water  was  just  like  air,  or  an  enormous 
cauldron  of  soda  water,  buoying  one  up,  and  I  came  to  the 
surface  without  the  slightest  difficulty.  Afterwards  I  went 
down  head  first.  The  only  thing  to  remember  was  not  to 
come  up  under  the  fall  itself.  Shooting  the  waterfall  became 
a  popular  amusement. 

Another  of  our  diversions  was  surf-playing.  This  en- 
chanting exercise  is  performed  with  the  aid  of  a  long  board 
shaped  like  a  wedge.  The  swimmer  takes  his  board,  pushes 
it  before  him  over  the  breakers,  while  he  dives  through  them, 
then  turns,  and,  leaning  on  the  board,  rides  back  on  the 
crest  of  the  surf.  The  speed,  whatever  it  may  be,  feels  like 
sixty  miles  an  hour.  It  is  one  of  the  most  exhilarating 
pastimes  in  the  world. 

I  remember  that  we  all  went  to  church  on  Sunday. 
During  the  service,  the  Queen  of  Tahiti  suddenly  clapped 
her  hands,  whereupon  the  clergyman  desisted  from  his 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  89 

ministrations,  while  her  Majesty  distributed  tobacco  among 
the  congregation.  When  it  was  well  alight  the  Queen  again 
clapped  her  hands,  and  the  clergyman  went  on  with  the 
service. 

We  left  Tahiti  with  profound  regret,  receiving  and  giving 
many  presents  on  parting.  From  Tahiti  we  proceeded  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  I  met  many  old  friends,  made 
during  my  sojourn  four  years  previously.  The  American 
population  had  quite  forgiven  and  forgotten  my  boyish 
freak,  which  had  so  agitated  them  at  the  time.  Our  old 
friend  Queen  Emma,  whom  we  had  taken  to  Panama  on  her 
way  to  England  to  see  the  Queen,  had  returned.  I  went  to 
call  upon  her,  driving  tandem,  as  already  related.  Turning 
in  at  the  gate,  I  took  the  corner  too  sharply,  the  wheels 
locked,  and  the  buggy  capsized.  In  the  meantime  the 
Queen,  having  heard  the  jingling  of  the  Canadian  sleigh 
bells  attached  to  the  harness,  came  out  to  find  her  visitor 
sitting  on  the  grass  at  her  feet.  The  horses  galloped  on  and 
wrecked  the  vehicle  and  also  themselves.  Altogether  it  was 
a  very  expensive  drive. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   CRUISE   OF   H.M.S.   GALATEA 
IV.  OLD  JAPAN 

NOTE 

WHEN  Lord  Charles  Beresford  visited  Nippon  (from 
the  Chinese  Jih  Pun,  the  place  or  rising  of  the 
sun,  changed  by  English  pronunciation  to  Japan), 
it  was  the  old  Japan  that  he  saw;  the  Japan  of  centuries 
of  isolation,  inviolate  save  for  the  intrusion  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  little  wedge 
of  Dutch  traders.  It  had  been  the  Japan  of  the  Mikado, 
who  was  as  a  god;  of  the  Tycoon,  his  temporal  repre- 
sentative, who,  like  a  man  walking  the  tight-rope  above  a 
wood  of  transfixing  swords,  maintained  a  delicate  equipoise 
of  power  among  the  feudal  seigneuralty,  the  great  Daimios, 
each  lord  of  his  domain  and  master  of  life  and  death  over 
thousands  of  retainers.  It  was  the  Japan  of  the  Samurai, 
the  two-sworded  rufflers ;  of  the  Ronins,  the  masterless  men, 
the  outlaws,  who  roved  the  country  in  bands,  patriotic, 
ferocious  and  pitiless.  It  was  still  the  Japan  in  which  the 
common  people,  men  and  women  and  maidens,  walked  naked 
and  unashamed ;  in  which  the  warriors  went  to  battle  clad 
in  armour  wrought  of  tortoise-shell  and  silk,  girt  with 
swords  and  carrying  bows  and  arrows ;  in  which  the  life 
of  a  barbarian  foreigner  was  never  safe  from  hour  to  hour, 
so  that  he  must  be  guarded  by  the  two-sworded  Yaconins, 
the  Government  officers,  who,  knowing  the  hatred  of  the 
Government  towards  their  charges,  seldom  drew  sword  in 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  91 

their  defence  until  it  was  just  one  blood-stained  second  too 
late ;  in  which  a  fault  in  honour  was  instantly  expiated  by 
hara-kiri,  the  fatal  cross-cut  upon  the  belly,  performed  in 
the  public  eye,  which  was  justly  offended  if  the  incision 
were  so  clumsily  executed  that  the  entrails  protruded. 
Such,  at  least,  is  the  ceremonial  theory.  In  practice,  the 
dagger  is  driven  in  below  the  ribs,  drawn  horizontally  across 
the  belly,  and  up  the  other  side;  an  operation  requiring 
inconceivable  courage. 

It  is  the  land  of  tea-houses  and  temples,  of  running 
footmen  and  palanquins ;  where  houses  and  string  and 
handkerchiefs  are  made  of  paper ;  where  the  people  wash 
themselves  every  day  and  their  clothes  never;  where  the 
oldest  profession  in  the  world  is  counted  honourable  service, 
and  the  pictures  of  courtesans  adorn  the  temples  in  which 
the  bonzes  intone  prayers  in  the  midst  of  games  and  dances ; 
where  the  writing  is  done  from  top  to  bottom,  from  right 
to  left,  and  keys  are  turned  from  left  to  right,  and  carpenters 
draw  their  planes  towards  them,  and  the  houses  are  built 
from  the  roof  downwards,  and  horses  are  mounted  on  the 
off-side,  and  ladies  black  their  teeth.  It  was  a  land  of 
immense  processional  pageants  :  the  processions  of  the  high 
Daimios,  who  once  a  year  quitted  their  ancestral  homes  with 
a  great  train  to  dwell  in  Yedo,  the  capital  of  the  Tycoon, 
for  six  months ;  and  returned  again,  leaving  as  hostages 
for  their  loyalty  their  wives  and  children  for  another  six 
months.  The  two-sworded  Samurai  march  in  front,  crying 
"  Shitanirio ! "  and  all  the  spectators  drop  upon  their  knees 
and  hide  behind  their  legs  while  the  long  procession  ambles 
by,  spearmen  and  banners  and  baggage-carriers  and  palan- 
quins :  the  norimons,  which  are  the  palanquins  of  the  notable, 
and  the  cangos,  which  are  the  palanquins  of  the  humble. 

When  the  foreigner  rode  abroad  in  state,  he  was  attended 
by  the  Ward-guards,  who  marched  in  front,  striking  the 
earth  at  every  step  with  their  long  staves  whereon  loose 
iron  rings  were  strung,  so  that  their  jingling  warned  the 
populace  to  make  way. 


92     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

At  night,  festivals  were  celebrated  by  immense  processions 
filling  the  streets,  in  which  everyone  carried  a  lighted  lantern 
swaying  upon  the  end  of  a  flexible  bamboo,  and  the  lanterns 
were  painted  with  bats  and  dragons,  and  the  people  wore 
horrible  masks,  distended  with  the  monstrous  rictus  of  the 
devil-gods.  In  the  Yoshiwara,  where  the  women,  painted 
and  gilded,  sashed  and  bedecked,  sit  in  a  double  row,  each 
with  her  price  placarded  upon  her  knee,  there  were  the 
great  priapic  processions,  concerning  which  the  English 
works  upon  Japan  preserve  a  shocked  reticence. 

In  old  Japan,  the  common  ideal  of  the  ruling  classes 
was  that  their  country  should  maintain  for  ever  intact  its 
immemorial  laws,  traditions  and  customs;  an  ideal  whose 
attainment  the  entrance  of  the  foreigner  would  render 
impossible.  As  for  the  common  people,  they  had  no 
aspirations  beyond  the  day's  work.  Japan,  in  her  own 
view,  was  complete,  self-sufficient  and  wholly  satisfied  with 
a  civilisation  compared  with  which  the  politics  of  the 
Occident  were  of  yesterday.  The  Islands  of  Nippon  were 
ensphered  in  holy  crystal,  whose  flawless  preservation  was 
the  highest  duty  of  a  patriot. 

Into  that  rare  atmosphere,  surcharged  with  perilous 
elements,  sailed  Commodore  Perry  of  the  United  States  Navy 
in  the  year  1853.  Some  fifty  years  later,  Pierre  Loti  entered 
Japanese  waters  in  a  French  warship.  "  Et  nous  entrions 
maintenant  dans  une  espece  de  couloir  ombreux,  entre  deux 
range"es  de  tres  hautes  montagnes,  qui  se  succedaient  avec 
une  bizarrerie  syme"trique — comme  les  '  portants '  d'un  de"cor 
tout  en  profondeur,  extremement  beau,  mais  pas  assez 
naturel — on  cut  dit  que  ce  Japon  s'ouvrait  devant  nous, 
en  une  de"chirure  enchantee,  pour  nous  laisser  pe"ne"trer  dans 
son  cceur  meTne  "  (Madame  Chrysantheme). 

It  was  Commodore  Perry  who  rent  open  the  heart  of 
Old  Japan,  and  her  blood  flowed.  The  gallant  commodore, 
anchoring  off  Cape  Idzu  on  8th  July,  1853,  with  two  steam 
frigates  and  two  sloops  of  war,  demanded  no  more  than  a 
treaty  securing  help  and  proper  treatment  to  sailors  ship- 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  93 

wrecked  on  the  coasts  of  Japan.  The  Japanese  Government 
said  neither  yes  nor  no;  whereupon  Perry  gave  them  a 
year  to  consider  the  matter,  promising  to  return  at  the 
end  of  it  with  a  "larger  fleet."  And  on  I2th  February, 
1854,  there  was  Commodore  Perry  in  the  Bay  of  Yedo 
with  three  steam  frigates  and  four  sloops  of  war.  After 
long  negotiations,  a  treaty  of  amity  was  signed,  including 
a  promise  to  succour  ships  in  distress,  and  (above  all) 
opening  two  new  ports.  From  that  moment  the  isolation 
of  Japan  was  ended.  The  door  opened  but  a  crack ;  but 
into  that  crack  the  wedge  of  commerce,  driven  by  the  lust 
of  gain,  was  thrust  by  America  (1854),  Russia  (1857), 
England  and  France  (1858). 

In  1859,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Rutherford  Alcock,  British 
representative  of  H.B.M.  Government  in  China,  was 
appointed  her  Majesty's  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  in  Japan.  His  book,  The  Capital  of  the 
Tycoon  (London,  1863.  Longman,  2  vols.),  gives  one  of  the 
first  authoritative  accounts  of  Old  Japan  presented  to  the 
British  public.  During  his  three  years  in  that  country 
he  was  constantly  in  peril  of  assassination.  In  August, 
1859,  an  officer  and  a  sailor  from  one  of  the  Russian  ships 
lying  in  the  harbour  were  cut  down  and  slashed  to  pieces 
in  the  streets  of  Yedo,  and  a  steward  was  severely  wounded. 

In  the  following  year  the  Japanese  linguist  attached 
to  the  British  Legation  was  stabbed  to  death,  and  two 
Dutch  ship-captains  were  cut  to  pieces  in  Yokohama.  The 
next  demonstration  of  the  hatred  of  foreigners  was  the 
murder  of  the  Gotairo,  the  Regent,  Iko-mono-no-kami.  His 
escort  was  suddenly  attacked  as  it  was  leaving  his  castle 
by  some  twenty  swordsmen,  wielding  the  terrible  Japanese 
two-handed  weapon.  The  hands  of  the  bearers  of  his 
norimon  were  severed  on  the  pole  and  the  Regent  himself 
was  decapitated,  his  head  being  carried  away  as  a  trophy. 

In  1861,  Mr.  Heuskin,  attached  to  the  American 
Legation,  was  murdered.  Soon  afterwards,  one  of  the 
Governors  (or  Under- Secretaries)  of  Foreign  Affairs, 


94     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Oribeno-no-Kami,  who  had  been  especially  friendly  in  his 
intercourse  with  the  Legations,  "  died,"  in  the  Japanese 
phrase,  "without  the  effects  of  medicine."  To  be  more 
precise,  he  had  committed  hara-kiri. 

In  July,  1861,  the  British  Legation  at  Yedo  was  attacked 
at  night  by  a  band  of  swordsmen,  who  passed  the  guards 
and  rushed  the  building.  Mr.  Oliphant,  who  had  recently 
been  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Legation,  was  severely 
wounded.  One  of  the  guards,  a  porter,  and  a  groom,  and 
two  of  the  assailants,  were  killed  outright.  One  of  the 
assailants  was  severely  wounded,  to  six  of  the  Legation 
party  who  were  severely  wounded  and  eleven  slightly 
wounded. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  Western  influence  in  Japan. 
Sir  Rutherford  Alcock's  voluminous  account  of  his  three 
years'  ministry  reveals  a  gallant,  honest,  kindly  gentleman 
sorely  perplexed  by  the  ethical  problems  involved  in  the 
forcible  interference  of  one  powerful  nation  in  the  affairs  of 
a  weaker  nation,  whose  sole  ambition  was  to  be  let  alone. 
Hampered,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  greed  and  discourtesy 
of  the  European  traders,  and  on  the  other,  by  the  immitig- 
able duplicity  and  the  furtive  and  implacable  enmity  of  the 
Japanese,  yet  singly  determined  to  do  his  duty  to  his 
Queen  and  country,  Sir  Rutherford  Alcock  honourably 
fulfilled  a  task  of  extreme  danger  and  incredible  difficulty. 

Thenceforward,  until  the  year  1869,  the  duel  between 
East  and  West  continued  with  increasing  ardour.  The 
whole  polity  of  old  Japan  was  shaken  as  by  the  earthquakes 
which  agitate  and  rend  its  soil.  There  were  frequent 
assassinations  of  the  foreign  barbarians ;  the  governing 
classes,  which  consisted  wholly  of  the  military  caste,  em- 
ployed every  invidious  method  to  restrict  trade  with 
Europeans ;  while  the  Western  nations,  on  their  side, 
brought  their  armed  strength  to  bear  in  the  enforcement  of 
treaty  rights,  which  by  the  same  means  had  originally  been 
wrung  from  the  Tycoon's  government.  And  here  it  falls  to 
distinguish  between  the  divine  prestige  of  the  Mikado, 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  95 

descendant  of  the  sun-goddess,  and  the  temporal  adminis- 
tration of  the  Tycoon,  or  Shogun.  In  that  dual  administra- 
tion resided  a  main  factor  of  the  extraordinary  difficulty  of 
the  situation.  Both  the  spiritual  and  temporal  rulers,  the 
Imperial  Court  and  the  Bakufu,  or  Tycoon's  Government, 
were  equally  inspired  by  hatred  of  the  foreigner.  But 
whereas  the  Mikado,  dwelling  majestically  apart,  could  avoid 
all  contact  with  the  barbarians,  the  Tycoon  was  compelled 
by  superior  force  to  negotiate  with  them.  He  was  thus 
placed  between  two  fires ;  on  the  one  side,  the  Mikado 
ordered  him  to  expel  the  foreigner ;  on  the  other,  the 
foreigner  threatened  him  with  war  unless  the  treaties  were 
carried  into  execution. 

For  long  the  Tycoon,  or  his  advisers,  maintained  his 
position  with  singular  address.  But  no  man  born  of 
woman  could  have  solved  its  complications.  For  the 
great  Daimios,  the  feudal  nobility,  held  allegiance  primarily 
to  the  Mikado.  The  Tycoon  could  and  did  detach  some 
of  the  clans  to  his  side  ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  western 
clans  defied  him.  The  influence  of  the  Tycoon  began 
swiftly  to  decline.  At  the  same  time  the  Imperial 
party  began  to  perceive  that  the  expulsion  of  foreigners 
had  become  impossible.  The  immediate  result  was  the 
revolt  of  some  of  their  adherents.  Inspired  as  it  was  by 
hatred  of  the  foreigner,  it  was  directed  equally  against 
Mikado  and  Tycoon,  and  accompanied  by  expressions  of 
loyalty  to  both  parties. 

In  1864  the  troops  of  the  Choshiu  clan  attempted  to 
capture  Kioto  and  to  obtain  possession  of  the  person  of  the 
Mikado.  They  were  defeated  after  heavy  fighting.  In 
June  of  the  previous  year,  the  Choshiu  men  had  fired  upon 
the  American  ship  Pembroke  while  she  was  passing  through 
the  Inland  Sea,  and  also  upon  the  Dutch  corvette  Medusa. 
The  French  commander-in-chief  of  the  station,  Admiral 
Jaures,  proceeded  to  Shimoseki  and  destroyed  the  batteries. 
In  August  a  British  naval  force  under  the  command  of  Vice- 
Admiral  Kuper  proceeded  to  Kagoshima  in  order  to  enforce 


96     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

the  payment  of  the  indemnity  due  for  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Richardson,  bombarded  the  town  and  destroyed  the  batteries. 
It  was  these  two  actions  which  for  the  first  time  really 
convinced  the  ruling  classes  in  Japan  that  it  was  hopeless 
any  longer  to  endeavour  to  prevent  the  intrusion  of  foreign 
influence. 

In  1866  the  Tycoon  lyemochi  died.  In  the  same  year 
a  new  and  enlarged  Convention  was  concluded  with  Great 
Britain,  France,  America  and  Holland.  In  the  following 
year  Keiki,  very  unwillingly,  became  Tycoon,  an  office  which 
by  this  time  had  become  exceedingly  insecure.  In  the  same 
year  the  Mikado,  Komei,  died  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Mutsuhito,  a  minor.  In  the  following  year  the  Mikado 
assumed  the  whole  administrative  power  hitherto  vested  in 
the  Tycoon,  and  a  new  system  of  Government  was  promul- 
gated. Followed,  civil  war  and  the  defeat  of  the  Tycoon, 
who  retired  into  seclusion.  In  the  meantime  the  Mikado 
had  invited  the  Representatives  of  Foreign  Powers  to  visit 
him  at  Kioto. 

"  That  the  Mikado  of  Japan,  who  claims  to  be  descended 
from  the  sun-goddess,  and  in  whose  person  a  peculiar  odour 
of  sanctity  was  considered  to  exist,  should  voluntarily  invite 
to  his  palace  at  Kioto  the  Envoys  of  nations  who  had 
hitherto  been  looked  upon  as  outer  barbarians,  and  inter- 
course with  whom  was  a  profane  thing,  was  indeed  a  great 
step  in  advance.  No  foreigner  had  ever  yet  crossed  the 
Imperial  threshold,  or  looked  upon  the  face  of  the  sacred 
Emperor  of  Japan.  It  was  a  proof  that  a  new  order  of 
things  was  inaugurated,  and  gave  good  hopes  for  the  future  " 
(Adams,  History  of  Japan.  Lond.,  1875). 

But  although  the  Imperial  Government  perceived  the 
wisdom  of  accepting  the  inevitable,  the  hatred  of  the 
foreigner,  bred  in  the  blood  of  the  military  caste,  could 
neither  be  dissembled  nor  controlled ;  and  the  attack  made 
upon  the  British  Envoy,  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  while  actually 
on  his  way  to  the  Imperial  Palace  on  2$rd  March,  1868, 
illustrates  the  condition  of  affairs.  On  the  road  to  Kioto 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  97 

and  in  the  sacred  city  itself,  the  Europeans  had  been  regarded 
by  the  people  with  a  polite  and  respectful  curiosity,  nor  was 
there  any  sign  of  hostility. 

Sir  Harry  Parkes  left  the  temple  of  Chi-on-in,  where  he 
lodged,  to  proceed  to  the  audience,  with  a  mounted  escort 
of  twelve  ex-Metropolitan  mounted  police,  under  the 
command  of  Inspector  Peacock,  with  whom  rode  a 
Japanese  officer,  Nakai  Kozo.  Behind  these  massive 
veterans  rode  Sir  Harry  himself,  accompanied  by  Goto 
Shojiro,  of  the  Japanese  Foreign  Department,  and  followed 
by  Mr.  Mitford,  Mr.  Satow,  Dr.  Willis,  and  other  members 
of  the  Legation.  Then  came  a  guard  of  forty  men  of  H.M.'s 
9th  Regiment  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Bradshaw 
and  Lieutenant  Bruce.  A  native  guard  preceded  the  train, 
and  another  guard  followed  it.  Just  as  the  policemen  were 
turning  the  corner  of  a  narrow  street,  Sir  Harry  observed 
signs  of  confusion,  and  the  next  moment  a  Japanese,  his 
great  sword  flashing  and  hewing,  dashed  round  the  corner, 
closely  pursued  by  two  policemen.  Sir  Harry  cried  out  to 
the  soldiers  behind  him  to  stop  the  Samurai.  Turning  his 
head,  he  saw  his  companion,  Goto  Shojiro,  on  foot,  sword  in 
hand,  rushing  forward  to  attack  a  second  Samurai,  who  was 
already  fighting  hand  to  hand  with  Nakai  Kozo,  the  Japanese 
officer  who  had  been  riding  alongside  Inspector  Peacock  at 
the  head  of  the  policemen.  Behind  Sir  Harry,  shots  rang 
out,  as  the  soldiers  fired  at  the  first  assassin.  Sir  Harry 
Parkes  was  suddenly  aware  of  the  wild  figure  of  a  Japanese 
warrior,  advancing  towards  him  through  the  press.  His  face 
was  a  mask  of  blood;  in  one  hand  shone  a  long  sword, 
dripping  red  from  hilt  to  point;  in  the  other,  the  victor 
lifted  the  bloody  head,  shorn  clean  from  the  shoulders,  of 
his  countryman.  It  was  Nakai  Kozo.  Nakai  gave  the 
following  ingenuous  account  of  his  deed  of  arms  to  Mr. 
Adams,  secretary  of  the  Legation,  who  quotes  it  in  his 
History,  as  follows  : — 

"  I  saw  a  man  running  down  the  line  cutting  at  one  man 
after  another.  I  jumped  off  my  horse,  drew  my  sword,  and 
VOL.  i. — 7 


9  8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

rushed  after  him ;  he  turned  and  we  engaged ;  he  cut  me  on 
the  head.  Then  Goto  came  up  and  dealt  him  a  blow  which 
felled  him  to  the  ground.  Unfortunately  Goto's  sword-hilt, 
which  was  of  lacquer,  slipped  from  his  hands,  and  I  had  to 
cope  with  the  fellow  alone.  I  could  only  see  out  of  one  eye, 
the  other  being  covered  with  blood,  but  I  kept  chopping  at 
him,  and  after  about  ten  blows  I  managed  to  cut  his  head 
off.  I  then  took  the  head  and  showed  it  to  Sir  H.  Parkes." 

The  soldiers  bayoneted  the  first  Samurai,  who  was  still 
alive  when  he  was  finally  secured  by  Mr.  Mitford.  He  was 
afterwards  beheaded  by  the  Imperial  Government.  But 
those  two  desperate  enemies  of  the  foreigner  wounded 
thirteen  men  and  five  horses  ere  they  were  cut  down.  One 
of  the  wounded  was  a  soldier,  another  a  native  groom ;  the 
remaining  nine,  of  whom  two  were  so  seriously  hurt  that  they 
were  invalided  home,  were  ex-Metropolitan  policeman,  to 
whom  the  methods  of  the  Samurai  must  have  been  startling. 
These  trained  fighters  wield  their  two-handed  swords,  heavy, 
perfectly  balanced,  razor-sharp  weapons,  with  an  appalling 
swiftness  and  dexterity.  At  a  single  blow  they  can  cleave 
a  man  to  the  chin,  or  cut  off  his  head,  or  lop  off  a  limb. 

In  May,  1868,  Sir  Harry  Parkes  presented  his  credentials, 
which  had  hitherto  been  addressed  to  the  Tycoon,  to  the 
Emperor.  On  the  23rd  was  celebrated  the  Queen's  birthday, 
when  many  Japanese  of  high  rank,  some  of  whom  had  never 
before  made  acquaintance  with  a  foreigner,  were  entertained 
by  Vice-Admiral  Sir  Henry  Keppel,  commander-in-chief  of 
the  China  Station,  on  board  H.M.S.  Rodney.  It  was  not 
until  November  that  the  civil  war  was  ended  by  the  sub- 
mission of  the  rebels.  The  Emperor  then  took  up  his 
residence  for  a  time  in  Yedo — now  called  Tokio — which  had 
been  the  capital  of  the  Tycoon,  and  which  was  henceforth  to 
be  the  eastern  metropolis  of  the  Emperor,  as  Kioto  was  the 
western  capital.  In  the  following  year,  after  another  in- 
surrection had  been  suppressed,  the  great  Daimios  made 
their  memorable  sacrifice,  offering  their  lands  and  servants 
to  the  Emperor ;  thereby  deliberately  exchanging  their 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  99 

almost  independent  state  for  a  condition  of  subservience  to 
the  central  Government. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  beginning  of  the  New  Japan  ;  and 
it  was  at  this  stage  in  its  development  that,  for  the  first  time 
in  history,  a  foreign  prince,  in  the  person  of  H.R.H.  the 
Duke  of  Edinburgh,  visited  the  Mikado. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  CRUISE  OF   H.M.S.   GALATEA   (Continued) 
V.  WITH  THE  DUKE  IN  JAPAN 

THE    Galatea    arrived    at    Yokohama   on    the    2Qth 
August,   1869.     The  Duke   with  his  suite,  including 
myself,  went  up  to  Tokio  (the  old  Yedo),  and  took 
up  his  quarters  at  Hama-go-ten,  which  had  been  the  summer 
residence  of  the  Tycoon.     The  estate  marched  with  a  piece 
of  water  opening  into  the  bay;  here  were  many  summer- 
houses  ;  and  a  commodious  building  equipped  for  the  Duke 
by  the  orders  of  the  Mikado.     The  name  was  changed  to 
Yen-Rio-Kan,  signifying  a  place  set  apart  for  distinguished 
foreigners. 

We  were  entertained  with  the  most  delicate  and 
sumptuous  hospitality  by  this  charming  people,  whose 
courtesy  greatly  impressed  us.  Conjurers,  acrobats  and 
wrestlers  performed  for  the  entertainment  of  his  Royal 
Highness;  whenever  we  went  abroad,  thirty  two-sworded 
Yaconins  attended  us. 

The  Duke  went  in  state  to  visit  the  Mikado  in  his  palace. 
All  along  the  route  the  upper  windows  of  the  houses  were 
sealed  with  paper,  so  that  none  should  look  down  upon  the 
royal  visitor;  a  precaution  only  taken  in  the  case  of  the 
highest  nobility.  The  Duke,  attended  only  by  Sir  Harry 
Parkes,  Admiral  Sir  Harry  Keppel,  and  Mr.  Mitford  (after- 
wards Lord  Red ':s  dale  and  author  of  the  delightful  Tales  of 
Oldjapan\  had  a  private  audience  of  the  Emperor,  who  was 
presented  by  his  Royal  Highness  with  a  diamond  snuff-box. 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  101 

Six  of  us  were  afterwards  admitted  to  the  presence.  I 
remember  the  dim  figure  of  a  young  man  seated  behind  a 
screen  at  the  end  of  the  audience  chamber.  Many  years 
afterwards,  when  I  again  visited  Japan,  the  Mikado,  who 
remembered  my  former  visit,  graciously  invited  me  to  lunch, 
and  entertained  me  with  the  royal  sport  of  catching  ducks 
in  a  hand-net.  The  ducks  are  preserved  in  the  royal 
gardens,  which  are  charmingly  diversified  with  lawns  and 
running  water,  and  flowering  shrubs.  As  you  enter,  the 
ducks  rise  suddenly,  and  the  sport  was  to  net  them  as  they 
rose. 

As  we  remained  no  longer  than  a  week  in  Tokio,  my 
recollections  are  few.  I  was  tattooed  by  the  native  artificers, 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  Japanese  officials  and  nobles ;  for 
in  Japan  none  save  the  common  people  is  tattooed.  The 
Japanese  artist  designs  in  white  upon  dark,  working  upon 
the  skin  round  the  chief  ornament  in  his  scheme;  whereas 
the  English  tattooer  designs  dark  upon  white,  using  the 
natural  skin  as  a  background.  Both  methods  are  beautifully 
illustrated  upon  my  person. 

I  witnessed  the  decapitation  of  six  criminals.  The 
victims  stand  in  a  row,  their  hands  bound  behind  them : 
each  in  turn  is  tapped  on  the  shoulder,  when  he  kneels  down, 
and  bows  his  head.  With  a  single  half-arm  stroke,  the 
executioner  slices  through  the  neck.  I  also  saw  a  cruci- 
fixion. The  man's  hands  and  feet  are  extended  and  tied  to 
cross-bars,  so  that  he  makes  a  figure  like  an  hour-glass. 
Then  he  is  transfixed  with  a  spear. 

On  the  8th  September,  the  Duke  returned  to  Yokohama 
by  sea,  taking  with  him  as  his  guest  in  the  Galatea,  Hiobukio- 
no-Miya,  Prince  of  the  Blood,  Minister  of  War,  and  other 
high  dignitaries,  who  attended  a  ball  given  at  the  British 
Legation.  On  the  i6th,  the  Galatea  sailed  for  China. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   CRUISE   OF   H.M.S.    GALATEA   (Continued) 
VI.  THE  HOMEWARD  VOYAGE 

FROM  Japan  we  proceeded  to  China,  touching  at  Chefoo, 
Shanghai  and  Hongkong.     Nothing  could  exceed  the 
princely  hospitality  of   the   great   British   mercantile 
firms  in  China.     It  was  then  that  I  learned,  what  subsequent 
experience  confirmed,  the  remarkable  integrity  of  the  business 
dealings   of  the  Chinese.     The  head   of  the  Chinese  Bank 
told  me  that  he  never  had  a  bad  account  with  a  Chinaman. 
The  Chinese  keeps  agreements  to  the  letter,  quite  irrespective 
of  documentary  contracts. 

From  China  we  proceeded  to  Manila,  then  a  Spanish 
possession.  My  principal  recollection  of  Manila  is  the 
extraordinary  prevalence  of  cock-fighting.  There  was  a 
cockpit  in  every  street ;  and  the  sole  occupation  of  the  in- 
habitants appeared  to  consist  of  betting  upon  their  birds. 
One  used  constantly  to  meet  men  walking  in  the  street  with 
their  birds  under  their  arms.  The  cocks  were  armed  with 
steel  spurs  shaped  like  a  scythe,  and  sharpened  to  a  razor 
edge.  I  have  seen  a  bird  spring  up  and  slice  the  head  of  its 
adversary  clean  off,  and  I  have  seen  the  chest  of  a  bird 
slashed  open,  almost  cutting  its  body  in  two.  The  use  of 
the  artificial  spurs  affected  the  betting,  making  the  fight  very 
much  more  uncertain  and  therefore  more  exciting.  For, 
whereas  if  a  cock  uses  its  natural  spurs,  the  best  bird  pro- 
bably wins,  an  inferior  bird  armed  artificially  might  gain  the 
victory. 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA          103 

From  Manila  we  proceeded  to  Calcutta.  Upon  landing, 
I  met  my  brother,  Lord  Marcus,  and  with  him  I  rode  up, 
together  with  the  staff,  to  Government  House.  It  is  a 
singular  coincidence  that  when  I  landed  at  Calcutta,  six 
years  afterwards,  on  the  corresponding  date,  when  I  was  a 
member  of  the  staff  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  King 
Edward  VII),  I  met  my  other  brother,  Lord  William,  and 
rode  up  with  him  to  Government  House. 

The  Galatea  lay  alongside  the  wharf.  It  was  necessary 
to  take  the  most  stringent  precautions  against  cholera. 
Only  one  boy  in  the  ship's  company  was  taken  ill  during 
our  stay.  He  died  inside  an  hour.  But  in  the  merchant 
ships  lying  in  the  port  there  were  many  deaths.  Men  were 
employed  in  working  parties  to  push  off  with  long  bamboos 
the  corpses  that  were  continually  floating  down  from  the 
Hooghli,  lest  they  should  foul  the  moorings.  The  bodies 
used  to  come  floating  (down  with  the  birds  perching  and 
feeding  upon  them. 

We  went  up  country,  and  enjoyed  a  great  deal  of  excel- 
lent sport.  We  went  out  pig-sticking,  which  is  the  finest 
sport  in  the  world ;  we  went  out  tiger-shooting  upon 
elephants ;  and  riding  upon  elephants,  we  shot  partridges — 
a  form  of  sport  by  no  means  easy.  I  remember  an  irascible 
old  colonel  of  artillery,  who  became  very  hot,  and  who  missed 
a  good  many  partridges,  saying  indignantly  to  the  Duke : 

"  This  is  all  d d  rot.  I  could  shoot  more  partridges 

on  Woolwich  Common." 

It  was  the  same  peppery  soldier  who,  when  one  of  the 
members  of  the  staff  had  fallen  ill,  went  with  me  upon  a 
visitation  to  the  sick.  We  found  the  invalid  in  a  state  of 
extreme  agitation,  and  surrounded  with  books  of  a  religious 
nature. 

"  I  think— I  hope—"  he  kept  saying,  "  that  I  shall  be 
forgiven.  I  think  I  shall — I  hope  so." 

"What's  he  saying?  What's  he  saying?"  cried  the 
colonel,  who,  as  often  happens  to  people  in  hot  weather, 
had  become  rather  deaf. 


104     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

"  He  thinks  he's  dying,"  I  shouted. 

Whereupon  the  colonel,  turning  angrily  to  the  invalid, 
shouted, 

"You  d d  fool,  you  have  only  over-eaten  yourself!" 

The  sick  man  was  so  infuriated  that  he  hurled  his  books 
of  religion  at  the  colonel,  and  sprang  out  of  bed.  Next  day 
he  was  quite  well. 

Another  member  of  the  staff  was  mounted  one  day  upon 
a  red  horse  (they  paint  their  horses  in  India),  a  wild,  half- 
broken  Arab  steed,  which  was  giving  its  rider  a  deal  of 
trouble.  I  advised  my  friend  to  dismount,  and  left  him. 
Presently  I  rode  back  to  find  him  on  foot  and  alone.  I 
asked  him,  where  was  his  horse  ? 

"  Gone,"  said  he.  "  Whenever  that  d d  horse  saw  a 

mosquito,  it  sat  down  and  cried  like  a  child.  So  I  kicked 
it  in  the  belly  and  it  ran  away  into  the  jungle." 

We  visited  Trincomalee,  where  the  elephants  built  the 
dockyard.  They  carried  the  timber  and  they  carried  the 
stones,  and  they  lifted  the  stones  into  position  and  adjusted 
them  with  their  feet.  The  remarkable  thing  about  the 
climate  of  Ceylon  is  its  intermittent  showers  of  tropical 
violence,  followed  by  bursts  of  sunshine.  In  the  result,  you 
actually  see  the  foliage  growing.  I  remember  the  extra- 
ordinary beauty  of  the  native  decorations,  which  are  fabri- 
cated of  palms  and  leaves  and  flowers. 

From  Colombo  we  went  to  Mauritius,  arriving  there  in 
May,  1870.  Here  I  climbed  the  famous  mountain  called 
Pieter  Botte,  or,  more  correctly,  Pieter  Both. 

The  mountain  is  so  named  after  Pieter  Both,  Governor- 
General  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  the  founder  of  Dutch  power  in  that 
region.  On  his  homeward  voyage  he  was  wrecked  in  the 
bay  overlooked  by  the  mountain,  which  thereafter  bore  his 
name.  Previous  ascents  are  recorded  in  the  archives  at 
Mauritius,  from  which  it  appears  that  mine  was  the  four- 
teenth. Admiral  Sir  William  Kennedy  ascended  Pieter 
Botte  in  1861  ;  he  gives  an  account  of  his  climb  in  his 


PIETER  BOTH   MOUNTAIN,    MAURITIUS 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  105 

interesting  book,  Hurrah  for  the  Life  of  a  Sailor  (London, 
Nash).  Kennedy  started  with  a  party  of  fourteen  persons, 
of  whom  five  reached  the  summit 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  started,  together  with  the 
captain  of  the  maintop,  Edward  Hele.  We  took  with  us 
ropes,  a  rope  ladder,  cod-line,  and  a  small  lead.  These 
were  all  our  appliances.  We  drove  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  and  began  the  ascent  at  11.5  a.m.  Now  the 
mountain  of  Pieter  Botte  is  shaped  like  a  church  with  a 
steep  roof,  from  one  end  of  which  rises  a  spire.  This 
pinnacle  of  rock  is  crowned  with  a  huge,  rounded,  overhang- 
ing boulder. 

Part  of  the  ridge  was  so  sharp  that  we  were  forced  to 
sit  on  it  and  to  proceed  astride.  Then  we  came  to  the 
pinnacle.  The  ascent  was  so  sharp  and  difficult  that  we 
were  obliged  to  take  off  both  shoes  and  socks.  At  one 
point,  I  lost  my  balance,  and  was  only  saved  from  falling 
backwards  by  Hele's  ready  hand.  Climbing  the  pinnacle 
was  far  more  difficult  than  scaling  the  overhanging  boulder 
at  the  top.  At  the  top  of  the  pinnacle  there  was  just  room 
to  stand  beneath  the  overhanging  boulder.  The  only 
possible  method  of  climbing  the  boulder  was  to  get  the  rope 
ladder  over  the  top  of  it.  Accordingly,  one  end  of  the  rope 
ladder  was  attached  to  the  lead-line.  In  order  to  swing  the 
lead,  one  of  us  was  roped  with  a  round  turn  round  his  body, 
while  the  other,  lying  on  his  back,  held  the  rope  while  the 
leadsman,  leaning  right  backwards  and  outwards  over  the 
sheer  precipice  of  some  3000  feet  fall,  swung  the  lead.  We 
took  it  in  turns  to  swing  the  lead ;  as  we  leaned  outwards, 
the  rock  spread  over  our  heads  like  an  umbrella ;  and  it  was 
an  hour  and  a  half  before  we  succeeded  in  casting  it  over 
the  boulder.  Then  we  hauled  the  rope  ladder  over  and 
made  all  fast.  It  was  too  short,  and  the  last  few  yards  we 
hauled  ourselves  up  hand  over  hand.  So  we  climbed  to  the 
top,  which  is  a  platform  of  about  20  feet  square.  It  was 
then  1.59  p.m.  We  took  off  our  shirts,  and  waved  them  to 
the  warships  lying  far  below  in  the  bay,  from  which  we  were 


106     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

plainly  to  be  distinguished  with  the  aid  of  a  telescope.  The 
ships  each  saluted  us  with  one  gun.  We  planted  on  the 
summit  a  flag  upon  whose  staff  were  carved  our  names  and 
the  names  of  our  ships.  When  we  returned,  my  brother 
officers  gave  us  a  dinner  to  celebrate  the  event. 

Hele  was  eventually  promoted  to  warrant  officer.  When 
Hele  died,  I  was  able  to  help  his  son  to  gain  his  education, 
and  he  did  very  well.  It  was  in  Mauritius  that  we  went  out 
shooting  with  the  native  population ;  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  amusements  in  which  I  have  ever  taken  part,  for 
the  bullets  used  to  whistle  in  the  air  all  round  us. 

From  Mauritius  we  proceeded  to  Cape  Town.  Here,  on 
the  1 2th  July,  1870,  the  Duke  inaugurated  the  new  harbour, 
breakwater  and  docks.  I  kept  a  team  on  shore,  and  used 
to  drive  up  from  Simon's  Bay  to  Cape  Town.  Every  now 
and  then  we  stuck  in  a  quicksand.  On  one  such  occasion 
I  had  a  brother  officer  with  me ;  and  as  he  was  afflicted 
with  a  cold,  I  took  him  on  my  back  to  save  him  from  wet 
feet.  But  I  fell  with  him,  and  we  were  both  soaked  to  the 
skin.  Upon  another  day,  when  we  stuck,  I  put  two  of  my 
messmates  on  the  leaders,  and  they  pulled  the  coach  right 
through.  If  you  want  horses  to  pull  a  weight  out  of  a  tight 
place,  put  weight  on  their  backs. 

The  Colonial  Secretary  at  Cape  Town  was  Mr.  Southey. 
He  was  a  most  delightful  and  sagacious  person,  and  became 
a  great  friend  of  mine.  He  prophesied  in  a  most  wonderful 
way  what  would  be  the  future  of  South  Africa. 

"  If,"  said  he,  "  we  could  only  get  a  big  man,  a  master- 
mind, to  come  out  here,  all  that  I  foresee  would  come  true." 

The  right  man  presently  arrived  in  the  person  of  the  late 
Cecil  John  Rhodes,  and  my  friend's  prophecies  have  been 
most  singularly  fulfilled. 

While  at  the  Cape,  we  went  up  country,  shooting.  Both 
Dutch  and  English  families  were  most  kind  and  hospitable 
to  us.  Upon  one  of  these  expeditions,  a  member  of  the 
staff  went  out  by  himself  very  early  in  the  morning  to 
shoot.  Observing  some  ostriches  in  the  distance,  he  stalked 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  107 

them  with  immense  labour  and  patience,  and  presently 
succeeded  in  shooting  a  couple  of  birds.  When  he  returned, 
he  complained  that  it  had  been  very  difficult  to  get  his  sights 
on,  owing  to  some  high  rails  which  were  between  himself 
and  the  birds.  It  had  not  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  been 
stalking  tame  ostriches  on  a  farm. 

I  once  rode  from  Cape  Town  to  Simon's  Town  and  back, 
between  lunch  and  dinner,  galloping  the  whole  distance, 
with  four  changes  of  horses.  The  distance  between  the  two 
places  is  about  35  miles  as  the  crow  flies.  My  errand  was 
merely  to  postpone  the  arrival  of  a  visitor  who  was  to  come 
to  the  Galatea. 

The  ride,  however,  showed  that  I  was  in  good  condition. 
I  have  always  tried  to  keep  myself  fit,  holding  that  con- 
dition of  body  regulates  condition  of  mind.  Cheery  people 
deserve  small  credit,  because  their  frame  of  mind  is  due  to 
their  being  right  inside.  Quarrelsome  people  are  wrong 
inside. 

On  our  way  to  England  we  touched  at  the  Falkland 
Islands,  where  I  visited  a  relative  of  mine  who  kept  a  ranch. 
He  used  bull-dogs  to  catch  his  bulls,  when  he  required  them 
for  branding.  The  dogs  seized  the  bulls  by  the  nose  and 
held  them  while  they  were  lassoed  by  the  guachos. 

When  we  touched  at  Montevideo,  I  remember  conversing 
with  various  persons,  who  foretold  the  immense  profit  which 
must  eventually  accrue  if  the  land  there  was  purchased  at 
that  time.  Their  opinion  has  since  proved  true.  But  I  had 
no  money  to  invest;  so  that  the  opportunity  was  only 
another  instance  of  what  might  have  been. 

The  Galatea  was  badly  strained  in  a  gale  of  wind,  her 
deck-seams  opening  so  that  the  water  streamed  into  the 
cabins  beneath.  One  lieutenant  used  to  say  to  another : 

"  How  did  you  sleep  last  night  ?     It  was  pretty  rough." 

"  Woke  at  one  o'clock  and  saw  them  reefing  tops'ls  " — 
meaning  that,  lying  in  bed,  he  could  see  clear  through  the 
seams. 

I  used  my  sail-making  ability  to  make  a  canvas  awning 


io8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

for  my  bed ;  fitted  it  with  a  ridge  rope,  laced  it  down  and 
hauled  it  taut,  led  a  trough  from  it  to  take  the  water  into 
the  slop-pail ;  and  slept  dry  under  it. 

It  was  during  the  visit  of  the  Galatea  to  Australia  that 
I  was  made  a  Freemason ;  and  I  have  always  regretted  that 
I  have  never  been  able  to  devote  as  much  time  to  Masonry 
as  I  should  have  liked  to  give  to  the  Craft.  The  Australian 
Lodge  into  which  I  was  admitted  was  under  the  impres- 
sion that  I  was  the  most  timid  neophyte  who  had  ever 
joined  it. 

When  the  ceremony  was  ended,  one  of  the  members 
of  the  Lodge  said  to  me  : 

"  You  are  safely  through  it.  But  do  you  know  that  of  all 
the  men  we  have  had  through  this  lodge,  we  never  had  one 
so  paralysed  with  fear  as  yourself.  You  were  shivering  like 
an  aspen ! " 

The  fact  was  that  during  the  initiatory  ceremonies  some- 
thing unaccountably  struck  me  as  extraordinarily  funny. 
The  effort  to  subdue  my  emotions  caused  me  to  tremble 
all  over. 

One  of  our  diversions  in  the  Galatea  when  she  was  at 
sea,  was  to  listen  to  the  conversations  which  used  repeatedly 
to  occur  between  a  certain  worthy  member  of  the  Duke's 
suite  and  the  old  quartermaster.  The  member  of  the  staff 
in  question  had  endeared  himself  to  us  by  his  high  serious- 
ness. He  dealt  with  the  most  trifling  incidents  of  life  in  a 
spirit  of  preternatural  and  wholly  sincere  solemnity.  Suppos- 
ing that  you  told  him  that  a  common  friend  had  fallen  off 
his  horse  and  bruised  his  leg,  our  member  of  staff  would 
instantly  ship  a  countenance  of  intense  concern. 

"  Bruised  his  leg  ?  You  don't  say  so  !  Good  God  !  Has 
he  indeed  ? " 

"  Yes— he's  bruised  his  leg ! " 

"  Has  he  now  ?  Well,  well.  Bruised  his  leg !  I  hope 
it's  not  serious.  I  do  hope  it's  not  serious.  Tut-tut !  Bruised 
his  leg,  you  say  ?  " 

"  It's  not  serious.     But  he's  bruised  his  leg." 


THE  CRUISE  OF  H.M.S.  GALATEA  109 

"  I'm  delighted  to  hear  it's  not  serious.  But — bruised 
his  leg.  I  am  really  distressed." 

And  so  on. 

Among  other  matters,  our  friend  took  his  family  very 
seriously.  One  of  his  ancestors  had  been  an  admiral ;  and 
it  was  this  distinguished  officer  who  made  the  link  between 
the  member  of  staff  and  the  quartermaster.  The  member 
of  staff  used  to  stroll  on  the  quarterdeck  in  the  evening, 
and  fall  into  talk  with  the  seamen. 

"Well,  Jones.  Good  evening,  Jones.  I  suppose,  now, 
you've  heard  of  my  uncle,  the  admiral?" 

"  Heard  of  'im,  sir?  I  should  think  I  'ad  heard  of  'im. 
Ah,  he  was  a  man,  he  was.  He  could  handle  a  ship,  he 
could — ah,  and  handle  the  men,  too ! " 

"  Why,  where  did  you  serve  with  him,  Jones  ?  " 

"  Where,  sir  ?  Where  not  ?  All  over  the  world,  sir.  Ah, 
he  was  a  man  !  " 

"  I'm  delighted  to  meet  anyone  who  knew  a  member  of 
my  family  so  well,  Jones — delighted,  I  assure  you." 

"  Knew  'im  ?  Why,  sir,  to  know  'im  was  to  admire  'im, 
as  the  saying  is.  Many  a  time  I've  seen  the  men  turn  out 
for  to  admire  'im,  sir. 

"  Have  you  indeed,  Jones — have  you  indeed  !  Dear  me. 
Most  interesting,  I  am  sure.  I  daresay  a  glass  of  grog 
would  not  come  amiss  to  you,  Jones  ?  " 

"  Wery  kind  of  you,  I'm  sure,  sir.  It  'ud  be  a  pleasure 
to  drink  your  health,  and  the  admiral's  too,  sir.  Ah,  he  was 
a  man ! " 

Mr  Jones,  afterwards,  forward  on  the  lower  deck,  to 
envious  friends : 

"  Pretty  sweet  conversation  that,  mates.  I  wonder  'oo 
the  b y  h — 1  'is  uncle  might  'a  been ! " 

There  was  another  member  of  the  suite  who  surely 
deserves  record — the  elephant.  He  was  really  a  member  of 
the  ship's  company,  for  he  could  do,  and  did,  the  work  of 
twenty  men.  He  joined  the  ship  in  India,  when  he  was 
quite  small,  and  he  grew  enormously  on  board.  He  lived  in 


no     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

a  house  built  aft,  and  fed  upon  branches  of  trees  and  bran 
and  biscuits  and  anything  he  could  get.  I  trained  him  my- 
self. I  taught  him  to  obey  the  words  of  command,  and  he 
would  do  anything  for  me.  He  would  hoist  me  upon  his 
shoulders  with  a  fore  foot,  or  upon  his  back  with  a  hind  foot. 
In  the  dinner  hour,  when  most  of  the  men  were  below,  he 
used  to  take  his  share  in  working  the  ship.  We  slung  the 
rope  in  a  bowline  round  his  neck,  and  he  would  clew  up  the 
mainsail  by  walking  on  till  he  was  told  to  stop.  He  was 
never  seasick.  He  used  to  balance  himself,  swaying  to  and 
fro  as  the  ship  rolled.  One  night  when  the  midshipmen  and 
I,  having  supper  on  deck  aft,  were  called  forward  to  trim 
sails,  the  elephant  finished  the  meal  for  us.  He  ate  every- 
thing on  the  table,  put  his  foot  on  the  plates  and  smashed 
them,  and  squashed  the  big  coffee-tin  quite  flat.  Then  he 
looked  at  us  like  a  naughty  child. 

I  was  the  only  person  who  could  persuade  him  to  leave 
the  ship  or  to  come  on  board  again  when  he  had  been  ashore. 
When  we  reached  home,  he  was  put  in  a  railway  truck  and 
directed  to  the  Zoological  Gardens.  His  keeper,  a  marine 
artilleryman,  went  with  him  in  the  truck.  Elephants  have 
a  habit  of  rolling  on  their  feet  and  squirming  their  vast  bulk. 
When  the  marine  was  trying  to  pass  the  elephant,  the  great 
beast  unconsciously  pinned  his  keeper  against  the  side  of  the 
truck,  and  against  a  projecting  bolt,  which  broke  the  man's 
rib,  forcing  it  into  his  heart.  He  was  taken  out  dead. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
FLAG-LIEUTENANT   AT   PLYMOUTH 

IN  1871,  I  was  appointed  flag-lieutenant  to  Admiral 
(afterwards  Admiral  of  the  Fleet)  the  Hon.  Sir  Henry 

Keppel,  commander-in-chief  at  Plymouth.  His  flag  was 
flown  in  the  Royal  Adelaide.  Sir  Harry,  as  already  recorded, 
had  been  commander-in-chief  upon  the  China  station  when 
the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  visited  Japan,  and  had  accompanied 
his  Royal  Highness  upon  his  visit  to  the  Mikado.  It  was  at 
Plymouth  that  I  first  had  the  honour  of  serving  under  Sir 
Harry  Keppel :  a  splendid  seaman,  a  most  distinguished 
officer,  a  fine  sportsman,  one  of  the  best  and  kindest  of  men. 

Admiral  the  Hon.  Victor  Montagu,  who  served  as  a  mid- 
shipman under  Sir  Harry,  relates  in  his  Reminiscences  some 
interesting  actions  of  his  old  captain,  which  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  quote.  Commodore  Keppel  distinguished  himself 
by  his  personal  gallantry  and  skilful  leadership  in  the  battle 
of  Fatshan  Creek,  ist  June,  1857;  of  which  a  full  account  is 
given  in  Laird  Clowes'  The  Royal  Navy;  and  Admiral 
Montagu  records  his  own  recollections  of  the  affair : 

"  During  the  many  years  in  which  I  knew  him  I  never  once 
saw  Sir  Harry  lose  his  temper,  except  when  the  Chinese 
war-junks  beat  us  back  on  the  first  attack  we  had  made  on 
them.  .  .  .  John  Chinaman,  seeing  us  retire,  took  the  hint, 
and  began  making  off  himself,  which  so  infuriated  Harry 
Keppel  that  he  jumped  up  on  our  paddle-box,  shook  his  fist 
at  the  war-junks,  some  500  or  600  yards  away,  and  shouted 

out :  '  You  d d  rascals  !  I'll  pay  you  out  for  this !  Man 

the  boats,  boys — man  the  boats  at  once !  The  beggars  are 


112     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

trying  to  escape  ! '  I  never  saw  such  a  rush.  At  no  regatta 
could  men  have  rowed  faster." 

Commodore  Keppel  commissioned  the  Raleigh  frigate, 
50  guns,  for  the  China  station.  Admiral  Montagu  states 
that  she  was  "  the  last  man-of-war  that  ever  sailed  out  of 
Portsmouth  Harbour."  Keppel  would  have  none  of  your 
steam-tugs.  "  We  ran  out  with  a  fair  wind  with  studding- 
sails  set  on  both  sides."  Alas  !  the  Raleigh  never  came  back 
anymore.  On  I4th  April,  1857,  she  struck  a  sunken  rock 
in  the  China  Seas,  near  Macao.  Keppel's  indomitable 
conduct  turned  a  disaster  into  an  achievement. 

"  Shortly  afterwards,"  writes  Admiral  Montagu,  who  was 
a  midshipman  on  board  at  the  time,  "  we  descried  a  French 
squadron  lying  at  anchor  in  Macao  Roads,  with  an  admiral's 
flag  flying,  and,  though  we  were  firing  minute  guns  of 
distress  as  the  water  gained  on  our  pumps,  Keppel,  nothing 
daunted,  called  out :  '  Up  with  the  French  flag.  Give  him 
his  salute.  Sinking  or  not,  let  the  Frenchmen  hear  us.' " 

A  French  frigate  coming  to  the  assistance  of  the  Raleigh, 
her  captain  asked  permission  "  to  go  below  to  see  how  high 
the  water  had  risen  in  the  ship.  '  Oh,'  said  Keppel,  '  don't 
go  below  ;  look  down  the  hatchway.'  '  Ah  !  mon  Dieu  ! ' 
exclaimed  the  captain."  .  .  . 

Keppel  kept  the  pumps  going,  crowded  sail  on  the  ship, 
and  finally  beached  her  off  Macao,  just  in  time.  He  landed 
the  ship's  company,  but  himself  stayed  aboard  the  vessel, 
sleeping  on  the  bridge.  The  stores  and  guns  were  saved. 
Keppel  was  deeply  distressed  at  the  loss  of  his  fine  ship, 
"  which,"  he  wrote,  "  brings  my  career  as  a  captain  to  an 
end."  Fortunately  he  was  mistaken.  In  after  years,  when 
I  told  him  that  the  Admiralty  were  about  to  build  a  second 
Raleigh,  Keppel  replied,  "  Very  glad  to  hear  it,  my  dear  boy. 
I  had  the  honour  of  losing  the  first  one." 

Admiral  Montagu  records  that  Keppel,  while  in  command 
of  the  Raleigh,  challenged  an  American  clipper  ship  to  race 
from  Penang  to  Singapore.  "  We  were  constantly  going  at 
a  speed  of  thirteen  knots,  during  heavy  squalls,  close-hauled, 


FLAG-LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH         113 

and  trailing  the  muzzles  of  our  main-deck  guns  through  the 
water  on  the  lee  side,  and  I  sometimes  used  to  turn  into  my 
hammock  in  abject  terror,  fearing  that  at  any  moment  we 
might  capsize." 

Sir  Harry  Keppel  was  famous  throughout  the  Service 
when  I  was  appointed  his  flag-lieutenant.  One  of  my  first 
recollections  of  that  office  concerned  an  old-fashioned 
"  Eighteen-hundred-and-war-time,"  peppery,  strict-service 
captain,  who,  having  just  come  home  from  the  West 
Coast  of  Africa,  asked  to  see  the  commander-in-chief.  It 
happened  that  Sir  Harry  and  myself  were  on  the  point  of 
going  out  hunting  when  the  old  captain  called,  and  the 
admiral  was  attired  in  hunting  kit. 

"  Tell  him  I'll  see  him  to-morrow,"  said  Sir  Harry. 

But  that  wouldn't  do  at  all,  nor  would  any  other  excuse 
serve. 

"  I  insist  on  seeing  the  admiral,"  said  the  captain.  "  I 
have  just  come  home  and  it  is  my  duty  to  see  him  at 
once." 

"  Bring  him  in,  then,"  said  Sir  Harry  impatiently.  "Now, 
sir,"  said  he,  "  my  flag-lieutenant  informed  you  that  I  was 
engaged.  Why  couldn't  you  see  the  secretary  ?  " 

"The  secretary,  sir?  The  secretary!"  says  the  old 
captain,  wrathfully  staring  at  Sir  Harry's  informal  attire. 
"  Indeed,  I  am  told,  sir,  that  the  secretary  is  the  com- 
mander-in-chief here.  That's  what  they  say,  sir — that's 
what  they  say!" 

"Do  they?"  returned  Sir  Harry  placidly.  "And  a 
d d  good  commander-in-chief  too ! "  says  he. 

When,  in  later  years,  I  became  commander-in-chief,  I 
made  it  a  rule  that  all  admirals  and  captains  should  have 
direct  access  to  myself,  no  matter  how  trifling  the  occasion. 

In  those  days,  there  was  a  turnpike-gate  outside  the 
town.  I  was  driving  a  brother  officer  home  late  one  night, 
after  dining  at  a  house  some  distance  away,  and  when  we 
came  to  the  toll-gate,  the  keeper  was  in  bed,  and  all  my 
knocking  and  shouting  failed  to  wake  him  up.  So  I  pro- 
VOL.  i. — 8 


H4     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

ceeded  to  heave  a  large  stone  through  his  window.  That 
fetched  him  ;  and  down  he  came,  grumbling  and  swearing. 
I  thrust  a  sovereign — the  only  coin  I  had — into  his  hand  to 
pay  for  his  broken  window  and  the  toll.  It  was  bad  tactics, 
for  he  promptly  retreated  into  his  house  (with  my  sovereign) 
leaving  us  still  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  gate.  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  break  the  rest  of  his  windows,  but  still 
he  wouldn't  come  out.  Evidently  a  surly  fellow,  unfit  to 
take  charge  of  turnpike  gates,  an  office  demanding  tact  and 
courtesy ;  and  we  thought  it  well  to  remove  his  temptation. 
So  my  companion  and  I  wrenched  the  gate  from  its  hinges 
and  lashed  it  to  the  cart,  vertically,  so  that  it  projected  over 
our  heads  like  a  kind  of  ornamental  roof,  its  weight  nearly 
lifting  the  mare  between  the  shafts  off  her  legs  and  making 
her  kick  like  blazes.  Then  we  drove  into  Plymouth,  gate 
and  all.  The  gate  was  reduced  to  firewood  before  sunrise. 
Next  day,  the  town  was  placarded  with  vain  offers  of  reward 
for  information  concerning  "some  evil-disposed  person  or 
persons  unknown  who,"  etc. 

At  that  time,  I  used  to  ride  steeple-chases  whenever  I 
had  an  opportunity,  and  kept  myself  in  regular  training  by 
hard  exercise ;  a  habit  which  on  one  occasion  involved  the 
commander-in-chief  in  an  alarming  rumour.  It  arose  from 
the  trifling  circumstance  that  I  had  borrowed  his  overcoat. 
The  Fleet  was  at  Holyhead,  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  the 
new  breakwater  by  the  Prince  of  Wales ;  I  was  just  going 
for  a  training  run  up  and  down  that  breakwater,  when,  finding 
I  had  no  coat,  I  took  Sir  Harry  Keppel's  uniform  overcoat. 
I  took  it,  without  thinking,  merely  because  I  wanted  it.  The 
next  thing  that  happened  was  that  the  signalmen  in  the 
Fleet  reported  that  the  Admiral  must  have  gone  mad  on  the 
breakwater,  seeing  that  he  was  racing  up  and  down  it  clad 
in  a  shooting-cap,  grey  trousers,  muffler  and  uniform  over- 
coat. As  my  face  was  almost  hidden  by  cap  and  muffler, 
the  signalmen  were  deceived  by  the  gold  lace,  took  me  for 
the  admiral,  and  thought  that  poor  Sir  Harry  was  smitten 
with  insanity. 


THE   AUTHOR   AS   LIEUTENANT 


FLAG-LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH        115 

We  used  to  hunt  a  good  deal  with  the  Dartmoor  hounds ; 
and  upon  a  day  when  there  was  no  run,  and  everyone  was 
bored,  one  of  the  ladies  present  begged  me  to  provide  some 
kind  of  sport,  kindly  suggesting  that  I  should  personate  the 
fox,  a  part  I  declined. 

"  You  must  do  something  to  amuse  us,"  she  said. 

"  Very  well,  I  will,"  said  I. 

Among  the  officers  there  were  an  elderly  admiral  and  an 
elderly  general,  and  I  pointed  them  out  to  the  lady. 

"  I  will  get  up  a  race  between  the  two  of  them,"  said  I. 

She  bet  me  I  would  not,  and  I  took  it.  I  began  with 
the  soldier. 

Ambling  alongside  the  general,  I  asked  him  casually  if 
he  had  ridden  much  in  his  life. 

"  Of  course  I  have,"  says  he  irritably.  "  What  do  you 
mean,  sir  ?  " 

"  Nothing  at  all,"  says  I.  "  I  thought  I  would  ask.  The 
admiral " 

"What  about  the  admiral?"  cries  the  general,  staring 
suspiciously  at  the  distant  and  unconscious  officer. 

"  He  was  saying  he  didn't  think  you  knew  very  much 
about  a  horse." 

The  general  lost  his  temper.  He  swore.  He  said  he 
would  show  the  admiral  what  he  knew  about  a  horse. 

"  You  can  easily  prove  it,"  said  I ;  and  before  he  under- 
stood what  was  happening,  he  had  agreed  to  ride  a  race. 
Then  I  went  over  to  the  admiral. 

"Do  you  know  what  the  general  says?  He  says  you 
look  like  a  monkey  on  a  horse,"  said  I ;  and  it  was  the 
admiral's  turn  to  swear. 

"  D d  impertinence ! "   says  he.     "  I'll  race  him,  and 

beat  him  any  day  in  the  week."     And  he  continued  to  use 
forcible  language. 

"You  can  do  that,"  I  said,  for  the  admiral  was  riding 
one  of  my  best  horses. 

"  If  you  really  want  a  race,  I'll  arrange  the  whole  thing," 
said  I.  And  I  brought  the  two  wrathful  old  gentlemen 


n6     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

together,  rode  with  them  to  the  starting-point,  gave  the  word, 
and  off  they  went  as  hard  as  they  could  pelt.  I  followed, 
cheering  them  on.  The  general  began  to  draw  ahead,  when 
his  horse  baulked  at  a  soft  place.  The  admiral's  horse  did 
the  same,  throwing  his  rider  upon  his  neck. 

"Get  back  into  the  saddle  and  he'll  go  through,"  I 
shouted,  for  I  knew  the  horse.  The  admiral  hove  himself 
into  his  seat,  and  won  the  race.  He  wouldn't  have  won,  if 
his  adversary  hadn't  baulked. 

The  members  of  the  Board  of  Admiralty  came  down 
to  Plymouth  to  witness  the  autumn  military  manoeuvres. 
I  offered  to  drive  them  all  in  my  coach;  and  they  were 
settled  in  their  places — Mr.  Goschen  the  First  Lord,  Admiral 
Sir  Alexander  Milne,  the  Earl  of  Camperdown  and  Mr. 
Shaw-Lefevre — when  out  of  the  house  came  Rear- Admiral 
Beauchamp  Seymour. 

"  Get  down  !  "  he  shouted.  "  Gentlemen,  you  must  get 
down." 

They  asked  him  why. 

"  You  don't  know  that  boy,"  said  Seymour.  "  He's  not 
safe.  He'll  upset  you  on  purpose,  just  to  say  he's  upset  the 
whole  Board  of  Admiralty  ! " 

And  he  actually  ordered  my  guests  off  my  coach,  so  that 
they  had  to  go  in  barouches. 

Sir  Harry  Keppel  often  came  sailing  with  me  in  my  little 
yacht.  We  were  out  together,  when  I  said  to  him, 

"  I  cannot  weather  that  ironclad,  sir." 

"  Then  run  into  her,  my  dear  boy,"  said  Keppel  placidly. 

"  All  right,  sir — obey  orders." 

I  held  on,  and  we  cleared  the  jib-boom  of  the  ironclad 
by  an  inch. 

Sir  Harry  had  an  old  friend  of  his  to  stay  with  him, 
Captain  Clifton,  a  most  remarkable  and  interesting  man. 
In  the  old  days,  the  passage  for  the  opium  trade  existing 
between  China  and  India  was  taken  only  once  a  year — the 
opium  ships  running  up  to  China  with  one  monsoon  and 
down  to  India  with  the  other.  Clifton  went  to  the  Govern- 


FLAG-LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH         117 

ment  of  India  and  undertook,  if  the  Government  would 
permit  him  to  build  vessels  to  his  own  design,  to  build 
clippers  to  thrash  up  against  the  monsoon  as  well  as  run 
before  it,  and  so  double  the  income  accruing  from  the 
opium  trade.  The  Government  consenting,  Clifton  designed 
the  Blue  Jacket  and  the  Red  Jacket  and  vessels  of  that 
class,  which  were  the  famous  opium  clippers  of  the  "  roaring 
forties  "  and  fifties. 

The  Indian  Government  gave  Captain  Clifton  a  lakh 
of  rupees.  On  his  way  home,  Clifton,  touching  at  what 
is  now  the  city  of  Melbourne  in  Australia,  but  which  was 
then  a  small  assemblage  of  wooden  shanties,  noticed  the 
possibilities  of  the  magnificent  harbour.  He  told  me  that 
he  could  have  bought  the  whole  site  of  Melbourne  for  a 
lakh ;  but  on  consideration,  he  decided  against  the  project. 

One  of  my  great  friends,  Sir  Allan  Young,  a  brilliant 
seaman  of  the  old  school,  commanded,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  one  of  Clifton's  opium  clippers. 

Upon  the  occasion  of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  opening  the 
new  breakwater  at  Holyhead,  in  1873,  his  Royal  Highness 
was  entertained  together  with  a  large  party  at  a  country 
house  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  Prince  called  to  me, 
and  said  : 

"  This  is  very  slow.  You  really  must  do  something  to 
enliven  the  proceedings." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  I,  "  I  will  run  a  hundred  yards  race  with 
Lord  •  '  •  As  he  is  Irish,  he  is  sure  to  take  me  up  if 

I  challenge  him." 

Sure  enough,  Lord accepted  the  challenge,  but  on 

conditions.  These  were :  that  I  should  race  in  full  uniform, 
excepting  my  sword,  while  himself  should  "  take  his  wardrobe 

from  off  himself."     Lord  then  proceeded  to  divest 

himself  there  and  then  of  his  Patrick  ribbon,  coat,  waistcoat, 
and  boots,  which  he  confided  to  the  care  of  the  wife  of  a 
certain  distinguished  Liberal  statesman.  He  dropped  his 
Patrick  ribbon  into  her  lap,  saying : 

"  Madam,  will  ye  have  a  care  now  of  me  Jewel,  for  glory 


u8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

be  to  God  there's  no  saying  what  twist  this  mad  one  might 
give  me ! " 

Entirely  at  ease,  with  the  seat  of  his  breeches  patched 
with  stuff  of  another  colour  from  the  rest,  and  his  toes 
sticking  from  his  stockings,  he  was  wholly  unperturbed  by 
the  laughter  of  the  assemblage. 

Although  attired  in  cocked  hat,  frock  coat,  and 
epaulettes,  I  had  the  speed  of  him,  and  waited  on  him. 

Then  the  devil  entered  into  me ;  and  when  Lord  

drew  abreast  of  a  big  plant  of  pampas  grass,  I  cannoned 
into  him,  pitching  him  head  first  into  the  grass,  not,  of 
course,  intending  to  harm  him.  But  to  my  consternation 

and  sorrow,  Lord 's  .leg  was  broken  below  the  knee.  I 

put  the  poor  lord  into  his  coach — he  had  a  coach  and  four- 
in-hand — and  drove  him  back  to  his  hotel.  That  excellent 
and  magnanimous  sportsman  was  perfectly  unconcerned. 

"You  hit  me  a  bad  skelp,  and  I  am  destroyed,"  said  he. 
"  Never  mind,  they  all  laughed,  annyway." 

It  was  about  this  period  of  my  life,  when,  returning  from 
a  ball  in  London  in  the  early  morning,  I  came  upon  a 
person  selling  whelks.  He  invited  me  to  sup — or  breakfast 
— upon  a  plate  of  these  delicacies. 

"  How  much  do  you  charge  for  a  plateful  ?  " 

"  Threepence,"  said  he. 

"  I'll  give  you  sixpence  for  every  plateful  you  eat 
yourself." 

"  Done,"  said  he. 

He  finished  two  platefuls,  and  had  begun  a  third,  when  he 
was  overtaken  by  rebellion  from  within,  swiftly  followed  by 
catastrophe. 

"  That's  not  fair,"  I  said.  "  You  can't  count  those  two 
platefuls." 

"O  my  Gawd,"  he  said.     "  'Ave  I  got  to  begin  again  ?  " 

To  this  time,  too,  belong  my  memories  of  a  certain 
famous  naval  captain,  who  was  extraordinarily  particular 
both  as  to  his  own  dress  and  the  wearing  of  proper 
uniform  by  others.  His  regard  for  appearances,  however, 


FLAG-LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH        119 

did  not  prevent  his  diving  overboard  in  full  and  im- 
maculate uniform,  including  white  gloves,  to  save  a 
seaman.  Exceedingly  precise  in  his  speech,  he  owned  the 
singular  trait  of  becoming  deprived  of  utterance  when  he 
was  angry;  and  few  things  made  him  more  angry  than 
faulty  attire  in  the  Service. 

He  was  driving  with  me  in  a  cab  towards  Plymouth, 
when  we  met  an  old  warrant  officer,  who  was  wearing  a 
purple  woollen  waistcoat  and  green  gloves.  My  friend, 
stopping  the  cab  so  suddenly  that  the  horse  slithered 
along  on  its  haunches,  leaped  from  the  vehicle.  The  old 
warrant  officer,  his  attention  arrested,  had  halted  and  turned 
round.  My  friend  went  up  to  him.  Then  I  perceived 
that  he  was  stricken  speechless  with  wrath ;  for,  continuing 
to  swallow  nothing,  as  his  habit  was  in  these  crises  of 
emotion,  he  tapped  the  warrant  officer's  waistcoat  and  gloves. 
Glaring  at  him  and  still  silently  swallowing,  he  turned  about 
and  got  into  the  cab.  The  old  warrant  officer  stood  staring 
with  dropped  jaw,  like  a  man  petrified. 

It  was  my  friend  who,  being  asked  at  a  court-martial 
what  he  would  have  done  in  certain  difficult  circumstances, 
replied  deliberately: 

"  If  I  was  where  I  was  not  I  might  have  done  something 
I  did  not  do." 

In  after  years,  when  he  was  commander-in-chief  at  the 
Nore,  he  was  walking  along  the  road  to  Sheerness,  dressed 
in  plain  clothes,  when  a  bluejacket,  who  was  slightly  intoxi- 
cated, lurched  against  him. 

"  Man,  man,"  said  my  friend,  with  his  picked  elocution, 
"  do  you  know  what  you  are  doing  ?  Man,  you  are  colliding 
with  the  commander-in-chief." 

"  Ho,"  returned  the  seaman,  totally  unimpressed.  "  Har 
you,  indeed  ?  Then  all  I've  got  to  say,  is  to  say  you've  got 
a  ruddy  good  billet — an'  wha's  more,  you  take  care  you  don't 
lose  it  by  getting  drunk." 

Despite  of  my  diversions,  I  did  a  good  deal  of  hard  work. 
As  flag-lieutenant  I  was  in  charge  of  the  signalling,  a 


120     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

science  which,  as  it  was  understood  in  those  days,  I  mastered 
completely. 

My  first  independent  command  was  the  Goshawk 
gunboat,  to  which  I  was  appointed  as  lieutenant-commander 
for  the  manoeuvres  and  for  review  in  1873,  while  I  was  still 
flag-lieutenant  to  Sir  Harry  Keppel.  I  had  a  narrow  escape 
from  disaster  at  the  very  beginning.  Fortunately  I  noticed 
that  the  navigator  was  going  the  wrong  side  of  the  buoy 
off  Drake's  Island,  and  I  was  just  in  time  to  point  out  his 
mistake.  I  remember  my  feeling  of  horror  at  the  prospect 
of  running  on  a  rock  in  Plymouth  Sound  in  my  first 
command. 

The  first  thing  I  did  in  the  Goshawk  was  to  get  from  the 
flagship  a  big  working  party  of  a  hundred  men  to  work  at 
holystoning  our  decks  until  they  were  as  clean  as  a  hound's 
tooth.  From  that  day  onwards  I  set  myself  steadily  against 
bright- work  and  spit-and-polish.  My  objection  to  bright- 
work  is  that  you  have  first  to  dirty  it  with  brick  and  oil  in 
order  to  clean  it  afterwards.  There  are  certain  things  in  a 
ship  which  must  be  kept  bright,  and  these  I  would  burnish ; 
but  everything  that  could  be  painted  I  would  paint,  and 
then  scrub  the  paint  with  soap  and  water.  I  remember  the 
shock  it  was  to  the  commander  when  I  told  him  to  cover 
the  brass  rails  with  canvas  and  paint  it.  Under  the  spit-and- 
polish  system  no  doubt  the  men  take  a  pride  in  keeping  the 
ship  bright,  but  such  a  process  involves  perpetual  extra 
bother  and  worry  and  black-list,  which  are  quite  unnecessary. 
Cleaning  bright-work  makes  the  men's  hands  filthy  at 
divisions ;  and  after  ten  minutes  of  bad  weather,  the  copper 
turns  blue  and  the  brass  green,  and  the  whole  of  the  work 
must  be  done  over  again. 

At  one  time  the  bright- work  system  was  carried  to  absurd 
extremes.  I  have  known  a  ship  actually  to  have  a  bright 
cable.  I  have  known  another  ship  with  bright  hammock 
hooks.  The  hatchways  of  some  vessels  were  polished  and 
decorated  with  inlay  and  all  kinds  of  ocean  ornament  until 
the  ship  looked  like  a  lady's  boudoir  or  a  transatlantic  liner. 


FLAG-LIEUTENANT  AT  PLYMOUTH         121 

The  custom  came  in  as  the  old  sailing  ships  gave  place  to 
steam  ships,  when  the  time  hitherto  devoted  to  making  a 
vessel  all  a-taunto,  ropes  taut,  sail  furling  and  mending  and 
so  forth,  was  given  instead  to  polishing,  burnishing  and 
making  bright-work  shine,  until  the  present  system  of 
gunnery  and  gymnastic  training  was  introduced.  Captains 
and  officers  used  to  spend  on  their  ships  large  sums  out  of 
their  private  income,  which  very  often  they  could  ill  afford. 
"  Promotion  by  paint "  was  not  unknown.  A  ship  ought  to 
be  scrupulously  clean,  but  she  should  have  paint  wherever 
possible,  and  soap  and  water  should  replace  spit-and-polish. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

POLITICAL  EVENTS   OF  1873-80   AND 
POSTSCRIPT 

NOTE 

THE   following  brief  summary  of  political  and  inter- 
national   affairs    is    introduced    for    convenience    of 
reference.     It  may  be  skipped  by  the  reader,  should 
he  disdain  politics. 

The  Government  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  returned  to  power  in 
1868,  began  to  disintegrate  in  1873.  The  proximate  cause 
was  the  Irish  University  Education  Bill,  announced  in  the 
Speech  from  the  Throne  at  the  opening  of  the  session  on 
6th  February,  1873.  Irish  affairs  have  always  been  the 
curse  of  the  Liberal  Party.  But  a  popular  Government 
would  have  survived  even  the  Irish  University  Education 
Bill,  which,  designed  to  please  all  parties,  failed  of  course  to 
please  any.  The  truth  is  that,  as  people  soon  or  late  weary 
of  all  administrations,  so  they  turned  from  the  Liberal 
Government.  Mr.  Disraeli  summarised  the  history  of  the 
Government  in  a  piece  of  invective  which  has  become 
classic :  "  You  have  had  four  years  of  it.  You  have  de- 
spoiled churches.  You  have  threatened  every  corporation 
and  every  endowment  in  the  country.  You  have  examined 
into  everybody's  affairs.  You  have  criticised  every  pro- 
fession and  vexed  every  trade.  No  one  is  certain  of  his 
property,  and  no  one  knows  what  duties  he  may  have  to 
perform  to-morrow.  I  believe  that  the  people  of  this  country 
have  had  enough  of  the  policy  of  confiscation." 


POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1873  AND  ONWARDS     123 

The  Government  were  beaten  on  the  Irish  University 
Education  Bill;  Mr.  Gladstone  resigned;  but  Mr.  Disraeli 
declined  to  take  office.  Mr.  Gladstone  was  therefore  com- 
pelled to  carry  on  the  Government.  Early  in  1874  he 
suddenly  appealed  to  the  electorate ;  which,  however,  chose 
to  give  his  opponents  a  majority.  Mr.  Gladstone  resigned, 
or  partly  resigned,  his  leadership,  and  plunged  into  the 
esoteric  joys  of  a  controversy  dealing  with  the  doctrine  of 
Papal  infallibility.  It  would  seem  that  a  great  ecclesiastic 
was  sacrificed,  when  the  young  Gladstone  chose  to  give  to 
politics  talents  which  would  have  won  him  the  Archbishopric 
of  Canterbury. 

In  Mr.  Disraeli's  Cabinet  Lord  Cairns  was  Lord 
Chancellor;  Lord  Derby,  Foreign  Secretary;  Lord  Salis- 
bury, Secretary  of  State  for  India ;  Lord  Carnarvon,  Colonial 
Secretary;  Mr.  Cross,  Home  Secretary;  Mr.  Gathorne 
Hardy,  Secretary  of  State  for  War ;  Mr.  Ward  Hunt,  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty ;  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer.  The  Duke  of  Richmond,  as  Lord 
President  of  the  Council,  led  the  Conservative  party  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  The  Liberal  leader,  walking  in  the 
Gladstonian  shadow,  was  Lord  Hartington. 

In  1874  the  Bill  for  the  Regulation  of  Public  Worship 
was  passed.  In  the  following  year  Mr.  Plimsoll,  by  the 
exercise  of  that  dogged  determination  and  gallant  defiance 
of  Parliamentary  conventions,  by  means  of  which  Parliament 
can  sometimes  be  goaded  into  acts  of  justice,  forced  the 
Government  to  pass  the  Merchant  Shipping  Bill.  Mr.  Cross, 
the  Home  Secretary,  introduced  the  useful  Artisans'  Dwell- 
ings Bill,  which  was  passed.  Upon  25th  November,  1875, 
the  Government,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Frederic  Green- 
wood, purchased  from  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  176,000  Suez 
Canal  shares  for  the  sum  of  £4,000,000. 

In  the  same  year,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  King 
Edward  VII,  went  to  India,  whither  he  was  accompanied  by 
Commander  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  M.P.,  as  A.D.C.  (Lord 
Charles  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  commander  on  2nd 


124     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

November,  1875.)  The  Prince  received  a  telegram  informing 
him  of  the  purchase  of  the  Suez  Canal  shares  when  his  ship 
was  passing  through  the  Canal  on  the  way  to  India.  Lord 
Lytton  was  appointed  Viceroy  of  India.  In  1876  it  was 
announced  that  the  Queen  was  to  assume  the  additional 
title  of  "  Empress  of  India." 

In  July,  1875,  there  was  trouble  in  the  Near  East,  which, 
nearly  two  years  later,  in  April,  1877,  resulted  in  the  declara- 
tion by  Russia  of  war  against  Turkey.  The  Mediterranean 
Fleet  was  ordered  to  pass  the  Dardanelles.  In  March,  1878, 
Lord  Derby  resigned,  and  Lord  Salisbury  succeeded  him  at 
the  Foreign  Office.  Mr.  Gathorne  Hardy  went  to  the  India 
Office,  Colonel  Stanley  to  the  War  Office,  and  Mr.  James 
Lowther  became  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach  had  already  succeeded  Lord  Carnarvon  at  the 
Colonial  Office. 

In  the  Parliament  of  1875-80,  young  Mr.  Parnell  began 
his  career.  Indomitable,  subtle,  cold  and  inscrutable,  he 
speedily  became  a  power.  A  Protestant  in  faith,  he  had  his 
foot  on  the  necks  of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  Nationalist 
members ;  half  an  Englishman  by  birth,  he  was  an  implac- 
able enemy  of  England.  Utilising  the  tactics  of  obstruction, 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  discredit  upon  a  Government  which 
was  powerless  to  control  him  and  his  led  captains.  He  forced 
the  Government  to  pass  a  Bill  for  University  Education  in 
Ireland ;  and  as  the  measure  was  no  better,  if  no  worse,  than 
the  Gladstonian  scheme  which  had  been  rejected,  so  the  result 
upon  the  Conservative  administration  was  equally  injurious. 

Mr.  Gladstone  emerged  from  his  studies  in  Papal  infalli- 
bility to  denounce  Bulgarian  atrocities  and  the  like.  But 
the  country  declined  to  become  excited  on  the  subject.  In 
the  meantime  the  Russian  army  was  approaching  Constan- 
tinople. The  British  Government  took  public  measures  of 
military  and  naval  precaution  clearly  implying  that  Russia 
would  not  be  permitted  to  occupy  Constantinople.  Prince 
Bismarck  thereupon  intervened,  and  invited  the  nations  con- 
cerned to  discuss  matters  at  Berlin.  Lord  Beaconsfield  (he 


POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1873  AND  ONWARDS     125 

had  received  his  peerage  in  1876)  and  Prince  Bismarck  were 
the  two  most  powerful  men  in  Europe.  Beaconsfield  chose 
himself  to  represent  Great  Britain  at  the  Congress,  which 
opened  at  Berlin  on  I3th  June,  1878.  Lord  Beaconsfield 
returned  in  triumph,  bearing  with  him  "Peace  with 
Honour." 

The  advance  of  Russian  influence  in  Afghanistan  induced 
the  British  Government,  in  1878,  to  dispatch  an  expedition 
to  Cabul,  which  was  occupied  by  British  troops,  and  from 
which  the  Amir,  Shere  AH,  fled.  Followed,  the  signature  of 
the  treaty  of  Gandamak  by  Yakoob  Khan,  son  and  successor 
of  Shere  AH ;  the  treacherous  murder  of  Sir  Louis  Cavagnari, 
British  Envoy,  and  the  greater  number  of  his  staff;  and  the 
recapture  of  Cabul  by  British  troops.  The  true  history  of 
the  whole  affair,  much  distorted  at  the  time  (and  since)  by 
political  malice,  is  lucidly  set  forth  in  Lord  Roberts's  Forty- 
one  Years  in  India,  by  the  great  soldier  who  took  so  dis- 
tinguished a  part  in  it. 

Another  frontier  war  broke  out  in  1879.  In  South  Africa, 
Sir  Theophilus  Shepstone  had  annexed  the  Transvaal ;  Sir 
Bartle  Frere,  Lord  High  Commissioner,  announcing  to  the 
Zulu  king,  Cetewayo,  that  Cetewayo  was  entitled  to  a  strip  of 
territory  claimed  both  by  Cetewayo  and  the  Transvaal 
Republic,  ordered  him  to  disband  his  army.  The  advance 
of  British  troops  was  checked  by  their  total  defeat  by  the 
Zulus  on  22nd  January,  1879,  at  Isandhlwana.  Lord  Chelms- 
ford,  the  commander-in-chief,  prosecuted  the  campaign, 
defeated  Cetewayo  and  took  him  prisoner.  During  the  war 
the  young  Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  son  of  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  lost  his  life. 

In  the  meantime,  the  trade  of  the  country  had  been  pro- 
foundly depressed,  with  the  natural  result  that  there  was 
much  discontent.  On  24th  March,  1880,  Parliament  was  dis- 
solved ;  and  the  Liberal  party  were  returned  with  a  majority 
of  some  hundred  and  twenty.  The  Queen  sent  for  Lord 
Hartington;  sent  for  Lord  Granville;  and  finally,  for  Mr. 
Gladstone. 


126     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 


The  Russo-Turkish  war  of  1877  had  brought  Russia  into 
opposition  to  Austria-Hungary,  thus  destroying  the  alliance 
of  the  three  Emperors  ;  and  although  Bismarck  made  peace 
between  the  two  Powers  at  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  Russia 
became  estranged  from  Germany.  In  order  to  restore  her 
security,  Germany  concluded  an  alliance  with  Austria- 
Hungary  and  shortly  afterwards  with  Italy,  which  had 
quarrelled  with  France  concerning  her  occupation  of  Tunis. 
Thus  was  formed  the  Triple  Alliance.  Its  counterpoise  was 
the  drawing  together  of  France  and  Russia,  in  view  of  whose 
possibilities  Prince  Bismarck  in  1887  increased  the  German 
Army.  In  1900  Germany  passed  the  Navy  Law,  which 
ordained  that  the  German  Fleet  should  be  so  strong  that  any 
attack  upon  it  would  be  dangerous  to  the  attacking  party. 

Nothing  but  the  strength  of  the  British  Fleet,  which  had 
been  largely  increased  by  the  action  of  Lord  Charles  Beres- 
ford  in  1888,  and  again  by  the  naval  programme  of  1893, 
and  whose  organisation  had  been  brought  to  a  high  state  of 
efficiency  by  Admiral  Sir  Frederick  Richards  (afterwards 
admiral  of  the  Fleet),  prevented  the  outbreak  of  war  between 
England  and  France  at  the  time  of  the  Fashoda  incident  in 
1897. 

The  affair  caused  both  nations  to  reconsider  the  situation  ; 
with  the  result  that  they  settled  all  outstanding  difficulties ; 
and  the  Triple  Entente  of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Russia 
balanced  the  Triple  Alliance.  Germany,  in  1912,  added 
some  70,000  men  to  her  army,  while  Austria  and  Italy  in- 
creased their  fleets.  By  the  time  the  Allied  nations  of  the 
Near  East  had  declared  war  upon  the  Turkish  Empire,  in 
1912,  Russia  had  recovered  from  the  disastrous  results  of 
her  war  with  Japan,  so  that  the  Triple  Entente  once  more 
balanced  the  Triple  Alliance.  But  the  war  in  the  Near  East, 
with  the  heavy  losses  it  inflicted  upon  Turkey,  had  opened 
anew  the  whole  Eastern  question.  The  settlement  concluded 


POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1873  AND  ONWARDS     127 

at  the  Berlin  Conference  thirty-four  years  previously  was 
abolished  in  a  moment. 

It  has  been  thought  worth  while  to  trace  the  main 
developments  of  European  politics  from  1873  to  the  present 
time;  as  it  happened  to  Lord  Charles  Beresford  to  be  a 
member  of  that  Parliament  which  saw  the  triumph  of  the 
Beaconsfield  policy  in  foreign  affairs,  and  to  be  a  member 
of  subsequent  Parliaments  confronted  with  the  emergence 
of  new  and  sinister  international  conditions. 


CHAPTER  XV 
AN   IRISH   ELECTION   AND   IRISH   POLITICS 

THE  political  situation  in  Ireland  at  the  time  when  I 
entered  politics  was  characteristically  exemplified  in 
the  Kerry  election  of  1872,  in  which  I  took  part.  It 
was  fought  entirely  on  the  Home  Rule  issue,  which  had 
been  revived  by  Isaac  Butt  when,  in  1870,  he  formed  his 
Home  Government  Association. 

In  the  Kerry  election  of  1872,  the  Roman  Catholic 
hierarchy  was  opposed  to  Home  Rule.  The  anti-Home 
Rule  candidate,  Mr.  Deas,  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  local 
landlord  and  extremely  popular.  His  opponent,  Mr.  Blen- 
nerhasset,  was  a  Protestant  and  a  stranger  to  the  locality. 
But  because  he  was  a  Home  Ruler,  he  was  elected  in  spite 
of  the  priests  and  of  the  personal  claims  of  Mr.  Deas, 
winning  by  839  votes.  I  may  add  that  he  won  in  spite 
also  of  my  exertions,  which  were  considerable.  I  started 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  with  Mr.  Harry  Herbert  of 
Muckross,  and  led  a  band  of  350  tenants  to  the  poll.  (The 
Ballot  Act  was  not  passed  until  1 8th  July  of  the  same  year, 
1872.) 

Having  polled  the  tenants,  I  was  strolling  in  the  street, 
when  I  was  stopped  by  one  of  my  grand  fellow-countrymen, 
a  huge  man  of  about  six  feet  five. 

"  Are  ye  for  Home  Rule  ?  "  says  he. 

"  To  hell  with  your  Home  Rule ! "  said  I.  Whereupon 
he  hit  me  on  the  point  of  the  nose,  knocking  me  over 
backwards,  and  effectually  silencing  my  arguments  for  the 
space  of  an  hour  and  a  half. 

138 


AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS     129 

The  nature  of  the  problem  of  the  land  in  Ireland  may 
be  exemplified  from  my  own  experience  as  a  landlord.  I 
came  into  my  property  in  1866,  and  when  I  returned  from 
the  sea  two  years  later,  being  in  need  of  money,  I  wrote  to 
my  agent,  telling  him  that  I  intended  to  inspect  the  estate. 
He  replied  asking  me  to  come  as  soon  as  I  could,  and 
adding  that  I  should  be  able  to  raise  the  rents  all  round. 
I  told  him  to  do  nothing  until  my  arrival.  When  I  went 
over,  I  drove  to  one  of  my  farms  upon  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  raise  the  rent.  The  farm  was  about  48  acres 
in  extent,  situated  in  the  middle  of  a  bog.  Here  I  was 
entertained  by  one  of  the  finest  old  Irishmen  I  have  ever 
seen,  and  his  three  sons.  Said  I  to  him : 

"  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about  the  rent.  I  hear  that  you 
are  paying  me  only  2s.  6d.  an  acre,  whereas  I  can  get  i8s. 
an  acre  in  the  market." 

I  shall  never  forget  how  the  poor  old  man's  face  fell  as 
he  said : 

"  For  the  love  of  God,  do  not  turn  me  out,  Lord  Charles. 
I  will  give  you  I2s.  an  acre  sooner  than  you  should  turn 
me  out." 

And  then  he  told  me  that  he  had  occupied  the  farm 
during  48  years;  and  in  that  time  he  and  his  sons  had 
raised  the  original  value  to  i8s.  an  acre.  Of  course  I  told 
him  to  stay  where  he  was  at  the  old  rent.  But  by  the 
law  of  the  land  I  could  have  turned  him  out  and  put  in  a 
new  tenant  who  would  have  paid  me  i8s.  an  acre,  the  in- 
creased value  being  solely  due  to  the  exertions  of  the  old 
man  and  his  sons.  Had  I  been  an  absentee  landlord,  it 
would  have  been  an  ordinary  matter  of  business  to  have 
instructed  my  agent  to  turn  the  man  out  and  to  raise  the 
rent ;  and  that  very  course  was  taken  in  thousands  of  cases. 
There  was  no  compensation  for  tenants'  improvements 
before  1870;  and  a  farmer  who  did  his  best  for  the  land, 
and  to  whose  exertions  alone  increased  value  was  due,  must 
pay  the  increased  rent  or  go. 

The  monstrous  land  system  in  Ireland  naturally  caused 
VOL.  i. — 9 


130     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

the  tenants  to  feel  distrust  and  enmity  towards  the  land- 
lords ;  for,  although  not  many  landlords  abused  their  powers, 
the  knowledge  that  they  could  abuse  them  was  alone 
sufficient  to  create  suspicion  and  hostility.  Again,  the  great 
companies  which  bought  land  on  speculation,  exacted  rents 
at  the  outside  market  value.  A  company  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  make  allowances.  Nor  did  the  companies  know 
the  tenants  or  care  for  them.  But  under  the  Irish  custom 
they  were  the  tenants  who  had  themselves  by  their  improve- 
ments raised  the  value  of  the  land. 

In  fairness  to  the  landlords,  it  should  be  understood  that 
the  tenants  objected  to  the  improvement  of  property  by  the 
landlord.  "  If  you,  the  landlord,"  the  tenant  argued,  "  im- 
prove the  land,  you  will  be  raising  the  rent  on  me.  I  would 
rather  make  my  own  improvements." 

The  terms  of  tenure  in  Ireland  were  quite  different  from 
the  terms  of  tenancy  in  England,  except  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  where  was  the  custom  of  tenant-right.  In  the 
south  and  west,  the  majority  of  tenants  had  a  yearly 
tenancy,  and  were  liable  to  six  months'  notice,  known  as 
"the  hanging  gale."  When  a  landlord  desired  to  get  rid 
of  a  tenant,  he  "  called  in  the  hanging  gale."  And  a  tenant 
habitually  owed  six  months'  rent. 

I  stood  for  Waterford  at  the  request  of  my  brother,  Lord 
Waterford.  That  I  was  elected  was  due  to  his  great 
personal  popularity  as  a  landlord  and  as  a  sportsman,  and 
also  to  the  powerful  influence  of  a  certain  prominent 
supporter  of  Home  Rule,  which  he  exercised  on  my  behalf, 
because,  although  I  was  opposed  to  Home  Rule,  I  supported 
denominational  education.  I  believed  then,  as  I  believe 
now,  that  a  man's  religion  is  his  own  affair,  and  whatever  it 
may  be,  it  should  be  respected  by  those  who  own  another 
form  of  faith.  I  have  always  held  (in  a  word)  that  the 
particular  form  of  a  man's  religion  is  necessarily  due  to 
his  early  education  and  surroundings. 

But  when  in  the  House  of  Commons  I  publicly  declared 
that  conviction,  I  received  about  four  hundred  letters  of  a 


THE   AUTHOR,  /ET.   27 


AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS     131 

most  violent  character,  most  of  which  were  written  by  clergy- 
men of  my  own  persuasion.  I  have  never  asked  a  man  for 
his  vote  in  my  life.  When  I  stood  for  Marylebone,  in  1885, 
there  was  a  controversy  concerning  the  Sunday  opening  of 
museums  and  picture  galleries.  I  was  in  favour  of  opening 
them,  upon  the  ground  that  people  who  were  hard  at  work 
all  the  week  might  have  opportunities  for  recreation,  which 
I  would  have  extended  beyond  museums  and  galleries. 
But  I  was  waited  upon  by  a  solemn  deputation  of  clerical 
gentlemen  of  various  denominations,  who  desired  to  make 
their  support  of  me  conditional  upon  my  acceptance  of  their 
views. 

"  Gentlemen,"  I  said,  "  has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  that 
I  have  never  asked  you  for  your  vote?  Let  me  tell  you 
that  if  you  disapprove  of  my  opinions,  your  only  honest 
course  is  to  vote  for  my  opponent." 

They  were  so  astonished  that  they  withdrew  in  shocked 
silence. 

When  I  was  in  Parliament,  Isaac  Butt,  who  was  failing 
in  his  endeavour  to  promote  an  agitation,  begun  in  1870,  in 
favour  of  Home  Government,  or  Home  Rule,  did  his  best 
to  persuade  me  to  join  the  Irish  party,  and  to  obtain  for  it 
Lord  Waterford's  influence,  because,  he  said,  Lord  Waterford 
was  so  universally  popular  and  so  just.  Although  I  was 
unable  to  join  the  Irish  party,  I  was  much  impressed  with 
Butt's  arguments  in  so  far  as  the  land  question  was  con- 
cerned ;  and  I  discussed  the  whole  matter  with  Lord 
Waterford.  I  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  form  a 
league  of  landlords  pledged  not  to  rack-rent  their  tenants ; 
pointing  out  that  if  the  Irish  landlords  failed  to  take  the 
initiative  in  reform,  it  was  certain  that  the  people  would 
eventually  prevail  against  them,  and  that  the  reforms  which 
would  be  enforced  by  law  would  bear  hardly  upon  the  good 
landlords. 

Lord  Waterford  sympathised  with  my  view  of  the 
matter ;  but  after  long  consideration  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  course  I  proposed  might  do  more  harm  than 


1 32     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

good.  The  question  was  inextricably  complicated  by  the 
fact  that  many  of  the  landlords  who  had  raised  their  rents, 
had  been  compelled  to  raise  them  by  force  of  circumstances  ; 
as,  for  instance,  when  they  had  been  obliged  to  pay  very 
high  charges  upon  succeeding  to  their  estates.  In  his  posi- 
tion, Lord  Waterford  shrank  from  associating  himself  with  a 
scheme  which  must  inflict  hardship  upon  landlords  poorer 
than  himself.  Events  took  their  course,  with  the  result  I  had 
foreseen.  My  proposal  was  inspired  by  that  sympathy  with 
the  demands  of  the  Irish  people,  and  that  recognition  of 
their  justice,  which  had  been  accorded  by  both  great  political 
parties  in  turn,  and  which  ultimately  found  expression  in 
the  Wyndham  Land  Purchase  Act. 

Not  long  ago  I  asked  one  of  my  tenants,  who  had 
bought  his  holding  under  the  Wyndham  Act,  and  who  was 
a  strong  Home  Ruler: 

"  Now  you  own  the  farm,  are  you  still  for  Home  Rule  ?  " 

"  Faith,  Lord  Char-less,"  said  he,  "  now  I  have  the  land 
behind  me,  shure  if  it  was  a  choice  I  could  be  given  between 
Home  Rule  and  a  bullock,  I'd  take  the  bullock." 

In  recording  the  beginning  of  my  Parliamentary  career, 
I  may  say  at  once  that  I  have  always  disliked  politics,  as 
such.  I  entered  Parliament  with  the  desire  to  promote  the 
interests  of  the  Service ;  and  in  so  far  as  I  have  been 
successful,  I  have  not  regretted  the  sacrifices  involved. 

But  in  1874  my  approval  of  denominational  education — 
in  other  words,  my  support  of  the  right  of  every  parent  to 
have  his  child  educated  in  his  own  religion — outweighed 
my  opposition  to  Home  Rule.  One  of  my  principal 
supporters,  himself  a  Home  Ruler,  suggested  as  an  ingenious 
compromise  that  I  should  so  print  my  election  address  that 
the  words  Home  Rule  should  appear  large  and  prominent, 
and  the  qualification  "  an  inquiry  into,"  very  small :  a 
proposal  I  declined. 

My  opponents  were  Mr.  J.  Esmonde  and  Mr.  Long- 
bottom,  who  was  celebrated  for  his  achievements  in  finance. 
He  stood  for  Home  Rule.  Concerning  Mr.  Longbottom,  a 


AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS     133 

certain  parish  priest,  who  was  also  a  Home  Ruler,  addressed 
his  congregation  one  Sunday  morning  as  follows  : — 

"  Now,  boys,"  says  he, "  a  few  words  about  th'  Election 
that's  pending.  First  of  all,  if  ye  have  a  vote  ye'd  give  ut 
to  a  genuine  Home  Ruler,  if  ye  had  one  standing.  Ye  have 
not.  Secondly,  ye'd  give  it  to  a  good  Conservative,  if  ye 
had  one  standing.  Well,  ye  have  one  in  Lord  Char-less 
Beresford,  the  gr-reat  say-captain.  And  thirdly,  ye'd  vote 
for  the  Divil,  but  ye'd  never  vote  for  a  Whig.  But  as  for 
this  Mr.  Long-what's-'is-name,  I  wudn't  be  dhirtying  me 
mouth  by  mentioning  the  latter  end  of  him." 

One  of  my  opponent's  supporters  retorted  by  urging  the 
boys  to  "  Kape  th'  bloody  Beresford  out,  for  the  Beresfords 
were  never  known  to  shmile  except  when  they  saw  their 
victims  writhin'  on  th'  gibbet " :  an  amiable  reference  to 
John  Beresford,  First  Commissioner  of  Revenue  at  the 
period  of  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  Union,  and  de  facto  ruler 
of  Ireland. 

Other  incidents  of  that  cheery  time  occur  to  my  recollec- 
tion. There  was  the  farmer  who,  ploughing  his  field,  cried 
to  me  as  I  rode  by,  "  Hurroo  for  Lord  Char-less." 

I  went  up  to  him  and  asked  him  whether  he  really  meant 
anything,  and  if  so,  what. 

"  Will  you  do  anything  ?  "  said  I. 

Said  he,  "  Lord  Char-less,  if  'tis  votes  you  want  me  to 
collect,  begob  I'll  quit  th'  plough  an'  travel  for  a  fort- 
night." 

There  was  the  car-boys'  race  I  arranged  on  Waterford 
quay.  Ten  of  them  started,  and  I  won,  because  I  had 
taken  the  precaution  to  stuff  some  hay  under  the  pad,  which 
I  lit  with  a  match.  The  horse  was  stimulated  but  quite 
uninjured. 

Then  there  was  the  affair  of  the  bill-poster.  I  had 
been  driving  round  the  country  all  day  in  a  side-car,  seeing 
the  boys,  and  late  at  night  we  stopped  at  a  small  inn.  I 
was  standing  in  the  doorway  smoking  a  pipe,  and  feeling 
cold  and  rather  jaded,  when  I  noticed  a  bill-poster  hard  at 


i34     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

work,  pasting  placards  upon  the  wall  of  an  adjacent 
building.  I  could  see  that  they  were  the  green  placards  of 
my  opponent,  my  own  colours  being  blue  and  white. 

I  strolled  across,  and  sure  enough,  there  was  my  bill- 
poster sticking  up  "Vote  for  Longbottom,  the  Friend  of 
the  People." 

"  And  what  are  ye  doing,  my  fine  peacock  ?  "  said  I. 
"  Sure  I'm  posting  the  bills  of  Misther  Longbottom,  the 
Friend  of  the  People,"  said  he. 

"Tis  a  grand  occupation,"  said  I.  "Vote  for  Long- 
bottom,  the  Friend  of  the  People,  and  to  hell  with  Lord 
Char-less,"  said  I. 

"  To  hell  with  Lord  Char-less,"  says  he. 
"  Come,"  says  I,  "  let  me  show  ye  the  way  to  paste  bills, 
ye  omadhaun." 

"  And  what  do  ye  know  about  pasting  bills  ?  " 
"  Haven't  I  been  a  billposter  all  me  life,   then  ?  "   says 
I.     "  Here,  let  me  get  at  it,  and  I'll  shew  ye  the  right  way 
to  paste  the  bills  of  Longbottom,  the  Friend  of  the  People." 
He  handed  me  his  long  hairy  brush,  and  a  pailful  of  a 
horrible  stinking  compound,  and  I  pasted  up  a  bill  the  way 
I  was  born  to  it. 

"  Sure,"  says  he,  "  ye  can  paste  bills  with  anny  man  that 
God  ever  put  two  legs  under.  'Tis  clear  ye're  a  grand  bill- 
poster," says  he. 

"Didn't  I  tell  ye?  "says  I. 

And  with  that  I  caught  him  a  lick  with  the  full  brush 
across  the  face,  so  that  the  hairs  flicked  all  round  his 
head,  and  with  a  loud  cry  he  turned  and  fled  away.  Armed 
with  the  pail  and  the  brush,  away  I  started  after  him, 
but  my  foot  caught  in  the  lap  of  the  long  coat  I  had  on, 
and  down  I  came,  and  knocked  my  nose  on  the  ground, 
so  that  it  bled  all  over  me,  and  I  had  to  go  back  to  the 
inn.  I  took  the  rest  of  the  placards,  and  the  pail  and  the 
brush,  and  drove  home,  arriving  very  late.  My  brother  Bill 
was  in  bed  and  sound  asleep.  Without  waking  him,  I 
pasted  the  whole  of  his  room  with  bills,  "Vote  for  Long- 


AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS     135 

bottom,  the  Friend  of  the  People."  I  pasted  them  on  the 
walls,  and  on  the  door,  and  on  his  bed,  and  on  his  towels, 
and  on  his  trousers,  and  on  the  floor.  Then  I  went  to  bed. 

In  the  morning  he  awakened  me,  wearing  a  pale  and 
solemn  countenance. 

"  Charlie,"  said  he,  "  there's  some  bold  men  among  the 
enemy." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  said  I. 

"  They  are  great  boys,"  says  he.  "  Why,  one  of  them  got 
into  my  room  last  night." 

"  Impossible,"  said  I. 

"  Come  and  see,"  said  he.  "  When  I  woke  this  morning 
I  thought  I  had  gone  mad." 

Upon  the  eve  of  the  election,  a  man  whom  I  knew  to  be 
a  Fenian,  came  up  to  me  and  said,  "  I  shall  vote  for  ye, 
Lord  Char-less.  I  don't  agree  with  your  politics,  but  I  shall 
vote  for  ye." 

"  And  why  would  you  ?  "  I  said.  "  You  that's  a  Fenian, 
you  should  be  voting  for  Mr.  Longbottom,  the  Friend  of  the 
People,  like  an  honest  man." 

"  Not  at  all,"  says  he.  "  When  ye  go  to  the  market  to 
buy  a  horse,  or  a  cow,  or  a  pig,  what  is  it  ye  look  for  in  'um  ? 
Blood,"  says  he.  "  An'  it's  the  same  in  an  iliction.  Ye  are 
well-bred,  annyway,"  says  he,  "but  as  for  this  Mr.  Long- 
what's-'is-name,  he's  cross-bred." 

When  I  was  holding  a  meeting,  one  of  the  audience  kept 
interrupting  me ;  so  I  invited  him  to  come  up  on  the  platform 
and  have  it  out. 

"Now  what  is  it,  ye  old  blackguard,"  I  said.  "Speak 
out." 

"  Lord  Char-less,"  says  he,  "  ye' re  no  man." 

"  We'll  see  about  that,"  says  I.     "  Why  do  you  say  so?  " 

"  Lord  Char-less,"  he  said  solemnly,  "  I  remimber  the 
time  one  of  your  family  stood  for  th'  county  of  Waterford, 
I  was  up  to  the  knees  in  blood  and  whisky  for  a  month,  and 
at  this  iliction,  begob,  devil  a  drop  of  eyther  have  I  seen." 

The  old  man  referred  to  the  election  of  1826,  in  which 


136     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Lord  George  Beresford  was  beaten  by  Lord  Stewart  de 
Decies,  an  event  which  was  partially  instrumental  in  bringing 
about  the  emancipation  of  the  Roman  Catholics  in  1829. 

I  have  always  preferred  a  hostile  political  meeting  to  a 
peaceable  assembly ;  nor  have  I  ever  failed  to  hold  a  hostile 
audience  except  upon  one  occasion,  during  the  York  election. 
I  had  sent  a  speaker  to  occupy  the  attention  of  an  audience, 
largely  composed  of  my  own  countrymen,  till  I  came,  and 
by  the  time  I  arrived  he  had  succeeded  in  irritating  them 
beyond  the  power  of  pacification. 

But  one  can  hardly  save  oneself  from  one's  friends. 
During  the  Waterford  election  I  came  one  evening  to 
Youghal  and  went  to  the  hotel.  I  was  peacefully  smoking 
outside  the  inn,  when  a  party  of  the  boys  came  along,  hooting 
me,  and  presently  they  began  to  throw  stones.  When  I 
advanced  upon  them  they  ran  away  and  were  lost  in  the 
darkness.  As  I  turned  to  go  back  to  the  hotel,  a  large 
missile  caught  me  behind  the  ear,  knocking  me  over. 

Next  morning  I  related  the  incident  to  one  of  my  most 
enthusiastic  supporters  in  the  place. 

"  'Tis  a  disgrace,"  said  I,  "  throwing  stones  in  the  dark. 
And  as  for  that  boy  who  made  a  good  shot,  if  I  could  get 
hold  of  him  I  would  scatter  his  features." 

"  Ye  would  not,"  said  he. 

"  And  why  wouldn't  I  ?  "  said  I. 

"  Because,"  says  he,  "  it  was  myself  that  threw  that  brick. 
An'  didn't  I  get  ye  grand  !  "  says  he.  "  But  ye're  not  hurted. 
Sure  ye're  not  hurted,  or  I  wudn't  have  told  ye  annything 
about  it" 

It  wasn't  disloyalty  on  his  part.  It  was  simply  that  he 
couldn't  resist  what  he  considered  a  joke. 

The  result  of  the  polling  was:  Beresford,  1767; 
Esmonde,  1390;  Longbottom,  446. 

A  salient  characteristic  of  the  Irish  race  is  that  they  will 
not  endure-  condescension  towards  them.  They  admire 
resolution  and  determination,  and  will  submit  to  the  sternest 
discipline  if  it  is  enforced  upon  them  by  a  man  who  under- 


AN  IRISH  ELECTION  AND  IRISH  POLITICS     137 

stands  them  and  whom  they  respect.  Conversely,  they  will 
yield  nothing  to  weakness,  and  will  return  any  assumption 
of  superiority  with  hatred  and  contempt.  Hence  it  is  that 
the  English  have  so  often  failed  in  their  dealings  with  the 
Irish.  In  spite  of  the  violence  the  Irish  often  exhibit  in 
politics,  their  pride  of  race  and  pride  in  one  another  remain 
their  notable  characteristics. 

I  recently  overheard  a  remark  which  illustrates  the  Irish 
master  sentiment.  During  the  debates  upon  the  Home 
Rule  Bill  which  took  place  in  the  House  of  Commons  in 
1912,  one  of  his  Majesty's  Ministers,  having  made  a  long 
and  an  eloquent  speech  in  support  of  that  measure,  punctu- 
ated by  enthusiastic  cheers  by  the  Nationalist  members,  had 
it  knocked  to  smithereens  by  Sir  Edward  Carson.  After- 
wards, I  heard  one  Nationalist  member  say  to  another, 
"  Wasn't  that  grand,  now,  to  see  the  Irishman  knocking 
spots  out  of  the  Saxon ! "  Yet  it  was  the  Saxon  who  was 
fighting  for  the  Nationalist  cause,  which  the  Irishman,  Sir 
Edward  Carson,  was  strenuously  opposing. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MEMBER   FOR   WATERFORD,   AND 
COMMANDER,   ROYAL   NAVY 

I  SHALL  never  forget  my  first  impressions,  when,  in 
1874,  I  entered  Parliament.  There  was  a  discussion 
upon  a  matter  of  Local  Government.  I  listened  to 
the  speeches  made  on  both  sides  of  the  House,  each  speaker 
taking  a  different  point  of  view,  and  I  became  more  and 
more  doubtful  concerning  the  solution  of  the  problem  in 
hand.  At  last  a  Radical  member,  whose  name  I  forget, 
drew,  all  the  yarns  into  one  rope,  making  what  appeared 
to  me  to  be  a  clear,  concise  and  reasonable  proposal. 

Sitting  among  my  friends,  several  of  whom  had  been  at 
school  with  me,  I  said  : 

"  That  is  the  only  man  who  has  solved  the  difficulty,  and 
if  he  divides  I  shall  vote  with  him." 

My  innocent  remark  was  received  with  a  volley  of 
expostulations.  I  was  told  that  I  had  only  just  joined 
political  life,  and  that  I  did  not  understand  it;  that  the 
Radical  speaker's  plan  was  excellent,  but  that  the  other  side 
could  not  be  allowed  to  take  the  credit  of  producing  a  good 
scheme,  because  it  would  do  our  side  harm  in  the  country ; 
that  the  scheme  would  be  thrown  out  for  the  time,  in  order 
that  our  side  might  be  able  later  on  to  bring  in  the  same 
scheme  and  reap  the  credit  of  it,  and  so  forth. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  if  this  kind  of  tactics  is  required  in 
politics,  it  is  no  place  for  me.  I  had  better  go  back  to  sea." 

Whereupon   I   was  told  that  I  should  shake   down   to 

political  methods  when   I  had  been  a  year  or  two  in  the 

138 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  139 

House.  But  I  have  spent  years  in  politics  and  I  have  never 
shaken  down  to  political  methods.  A  thing  is  either  right 
or  wrong.  I  have  never  scrupled  to  vote  against  my  own 
party  when  I  thought  they  were  in  the  wrong. 

Upon  one  occasion,  someone  told  Disraeli  that  I  was 
intending  to  vote  against  the  party.  He  put  his  arm  on  my 
shoulder,  and  said  in  his  orotund,  deliberate  enunciation : 

"  My  boy,  don't  you  know  that  it's  your  first  duty  to 
vote  with  your  party  ?  If  everyone  voted  according  to  his 
convictions,  there  would  be  no  party  system.  And  without 
a  party  system  the  Government  could  not  be  carried  on,  as 
you  will  discover  in  time." 

I  have  also  discovered  that  when  politicians  think  only 
of  issues  as  affecting  themselves  and  not  as  affecting  the 
State,  party  politics  fall  to  a  very  low  level,  and  those  who 
believe  in  great  national  and  Imperial  ideas  are  regarded  as 
freaks  and  faddists. 

Disraeli  was  very  friendly  both  to  my  brother  Waterford 
and  myself.  Upon  the  first  occasion  of  a  division  in  which 
I  took  part,  he  walked  through  the  lobby  with  his  arm  on 
my  shoulder,  rather  to  the  surprise  of  the  old  members. 

"Who  the  devil  is  that  young  man  to  whom  Dizzy  is 
talking  ?  "  I  heard  them  murmur. 

I  sat  immediately  behind  Disraeli ;  and  one  night,  Lord 
Barrington,  a  great  friend  of  his,  hurried  into  the  House, 
and  squeezing  himself  in  between  me  and  the  next  man, 
leaned  over  and  said  to  Disraeli  in  a  whisper : 
"  Poor  Whyte-Melville  has  been  killed !  " 

Disraeli  turned  slowly  round,  fitting  his  glass  into  his 
eye. 

"  Dear,  dear,"  said  he  deliberately ;  "  and  pray,  how  did 
that  happen  ?  " 

"  Killed  in  the  hunting-field  ! " 

"  How  very  dramatic ! "  said  Disraeli  solemnly. 

We  stayed  at  Sandringham,  and  went  for  long  walks 
together,  during  which  Disraeli  talked  and  laughed  with  the 
greatest  enjoyment.  But  I  remember  how,  in  the  pauses  of 


I4o     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

the  conversation,  he  would  stand  still,  and,  glass  in  eye, 
dreamily  surveying  the  landscape,  would  make  some  such 
observation  as  "The  air  is  balmy  .  .  .  and  serene!"  or 
11  The  foliage  is  stunted  .  .  .  but  productive ! "  with  the  most 
weighty  and  measured  emphasis,  as  though  these  were 
prophetic  utterances.  I  was  quite  bewildered ;  for  I  did  not 
then  know  whether  he  were  serious,  or  were  indulging  a 
recondite  wit.  He  was  a  visionary,  dwelling  much  in  a  world 
of  his  own  ;  and  I  know  now  that  he  was  perfectly  natural 
and  serious  on  these  occasions. 

He  and  his  wife  were  devotedly  attached  to  each  other. 
Having  taken  Lady  Beaconsfield  in  to  dinner  one  evening, 
I  noticed  some  red  marks  upon  her  arm  and  her  napkin. 
She  was  wearing  red  roses,  and  at  first  I  thought  some  petals 
had  fallen  from  them.  Then  I  saw  that  she  was  wearing  a 
bandage  on  her  arm,  and  that  blood  was  oozing  from  under 
it.  I  told  her  that  her  arm  was  bleeding. 

"  Please  don't  say  a  word,  Lord  Charles,"  she  said  hastily, 
"it  would  distress  Dizzy  so  much."  And  she  furtively 
twisted  her  napkin  about  her  arm.  Lord  Beaconsfield,  who 
was  sitting  opposite  to  us,  stuck  his  glass  in  his  eye  and 
stared  across  the  table — I  was  afraid  for  a  moment  that  he 
had  overheard  what  his  wife  had  said.  Poor  lady,  she  died 
shortly  afterwards. 

When  I  entered  Parliament  in  1874  it  was  still  the  day 
of  the  great  orators :  of  Disraeli,  Gladstone,  Bright,  David 
Plunkett,  O'Connor  Power  ;  whose  like,  perhaps,  we  shall 
not  see  again.  There  was  a  tradition  of  eloquence  in  the 
House  of  Commons  of  that  time ;  members  declined  to 
listen  to  a  bore ;  and  debate  was  conducted  almost  entirely 
by  the  two  Front  Benches.  It  was  in  my  first  Parliament 
that  Disraeli  touched  the  zenith  of  his  extraordinary  and 
splendid  career;  during  which  he  formulated  the  principles 
of  a  national  policy,  a  part  of  which  himself  carried  into 
execution,  but  whose  complete  fulfilment  remains  to  be 
achieved.  Disraeli  established  a  tradition ;  and  like  all 
those  who  have  a  great  ideal — whether  right  or  wrong  is 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  141 

not  here  the  question — he  still  lives  in  the  minds  of  men,  and 
his  name  still  carries  inspiration.  His  great  rival,  who  wore 
him  down  at  last,  bequeathed  no  such  national  inheritance. 

It  was  in  this  my  first  Parliament  that  Mr.  Parnell 
emerged  as  the  leader  of  the  Irish  party.  He  was  a  cold, 
unapproachable  person ;  he  kept  his  party  under  the  most 
rigid  control,  with  a  tight  hold  upon  the  purse.  He  had 
great  ability.  I  have  often  seen  him  stalk  into  the  House 
in  the  middle  of  a  debate,  receive  a  sheaf  of  notes  from 
his  secretary,  Mr.  O'Brien,  with  whom  he  would  hold  a 
whispered  consultation,  then  rise  and  deliver  a  masterly 
speech.  He  sat  with  me  on  the  committee  of  the  Army 
Discipline  Bill ;  speaking  seldom,  but  always  to  the  point. 

Lord  Randolph  Churchill  entered  Parliament  at  the  same 
time  as  myself;  and  he  was  always  a  great  personal  friend 
of  mine. 

Although  we  were  opposed  in  politics,  the  other  four 
Waterford  members  were  on  excellent  terms  with  the  only 
anti-Home  Ruler  in  the  five.  There  were  Dick  Power, 
F.  H.  O'Donnell,  J.  Delahunty,  and  Purcell  O'Gorman,  who 
weighed  twenty-eight  stone  or  so  ;  and  they  all  came  to  my 
wedding.  Another  Waterford  man  was  Mr.  Sexton.  As  a 
boy,  he  manifested  so  brilliant  a  talent  for  oratory,  that  he 
was  sent  into  Parliament,  where,  as  everyone  knows,  he 
speedily  made  his  mark.  I  remember,  too,  The  O'Gorman 
Mahon,  who,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  fought  the  last  formal 
duel  in  this  country. 

When  I  entered  Parliament  the  automobile  torpedo  was 
a  comparatively  recent  invention.  Mr  Whitehead  had  begun 
his  experiments  in  1 864 ;  after  four  years'  work  and  at  the 
cost  of  ^"40,000,  he  produced  the  formidable  engine  of  war 
known  as  the  Whitehead  torpedo,  the  type  from  which  all 
subsequent  improvements  have  been  evolved.  I  have  heard 
it  stated  that  the  British  Government  could  have  bought  the 
invention  right  out  for  £60,000.  Whitehead  invented  the 
device  of  using  hydrostatic  pressure  to  regulate  the  depth  of 
the  immersion  of  the  torpedo,  and  employed  compressed  air 


1 42     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

as  its  motive  power.  The  new  weapon  was  adopted  by  the 
British  Navy  and  by  other  naval  powers.  In  the  year  1876 
the  type  in  use  was  the  14-in.,  length  14  ft.  6  in.,  weight 
525  Ibs. 

In  my  view,  the  capabilities  of  the  new  weapon  had  not 
been  fully  appreciated ;  that  opinion  may  or  may  not  have 
been  justified ;  but  I  considered  it  to  be  my  duty  publicly  to 
insist  upon  the  importance  of  the  torpedo  in  naval  warfare. 
I  spoke  on  the  subject  both  inside  the  House  of  Commons 
and  on  the  platform,  and  was  so  fortunate  as  to  win  the 
approval  of  The  Times. 

The  Admiralty,  however,  were  deeply  affronted.  The  First 
Lord,  Mr.  George  Ward  Hunt,  informed  me  that  the  Board 
took  great  exception  to  my  speaking  in  the  House  upon 
naval  subjects,  and  desired  me  to  understand  that  I  must 
choose  between  the  career  of  a  sailor  and  that  of  a  politician. 
My  reply  was  that  I  considered  the  request  to  be  a  breach  of 
privilege.  Mr.  Ward  Hunt  admitted  the  point ;  but  argued 
that  the  employment  in  the  House  of  Commons  of  my 
knowledge  of  the  Service  was  prejudicial  to  discipline.  He 
was  of  course  right  in  so  far  as  the  conditions  did  un- 
doubtedly afford  opportunities  for  prejudicing  discipline; 
but  as  there  was  no  regulation  forbidding  a  naval  officer  to 
sit  in  Parliament,  a  dual  position  which  had  been  frequently 
held  by  members  of  the  Board  of  Admiralty,  the  responsi- 
bility rested  upon  the  individual. 

However,  it  was  not  a  case  for  argument ;  and  I  appealed 
directly  to  Mr.  Disraeli,  telling  him  that  I  regarded  the 
request  of  the  Admiralty  as  a  breach  of  privilege  ;  that  I  had 
no  intention  of  relinquishing  my  naval  career;  and  that  I 
had  entered  Parliament  solely  in  the  interests  of  the  Service. 
Disraeli  listened  with  his  customary  sardonic  gravity. 

"  What,"  he  asked,  "  do  you  intend  to  do  ?  " 

I  said  that  if  the  matter  were  pressed  to  a  conclusion,  I 
should  resign  my  seat,  in  which  event  Waterford  would  very 
probably  be  captured  by  a  hot  Home  Ruler. 

"  My  dear  boy,"  said  Disraeli,  in  his  deliberate  way,  "  I 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  143 

am  quite  sure  that  you  will  do  nothing  heroic.  I,"  he  added, 
— "  I  will  see  the  Secretariat." 

And  that  was  the  last  I  heard  of  the  affair. 

Among  other  Service  matters  in  which  I  did  what  I 
could  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  obtain  reforms,  were  the 
training  of  the  personnel,  the  more  rapid  promotion  of 
officers,  promotion  from  the  lower  deck  to  officers'  rank, 
and  the  necessity  for  building  fast  cruisers  to  protect  the 
trade  routes.  I  advocated  more  time  being  spent  by  the 
men  upon  gunnery  training,  and  less  upon  polishing  bright- 
work  ;  and  brought  forward  a  motion  to  stop  the  men  of 
the  Fleet  "  doing  'orses  "  (as  they  called  hauling  carts  laden 
with  stores  about  the  dockyard),  instead  of  being  trained  in 
their  proper  work.  These  subjects  no  longer  possess  any 
interest  save  in  so  far  as  the  circumstances  resemble  those  of 
the  present  day.  But  I  find  recurring  to-day  many  of  the 
difficulties  of  thirty  or  forty  years  ago. 

At  that  time  the  Admiralty  had  abolished  the  short 
service  system  under  which  highly  efficient  seamen  were 
recruited  direct  from  the  mercantile  marine,  and  the  Board 
had  become  responsible  for  the  whole  supply  and  training  of 
men  for  the  Fleet.  But  the  Admiralty  had  neglected  to 
constitute  an  efficient  system  of  training.  A  very  large 
proportion  of  men  were  employed  at  sea  upon  duties  which 
precluded  them  from  receiving  war  training  of  any  kind  ; 
another  large  contingent  was  kept  idle  in  hulks  and  receiving 
ships  while  waiting  to  be  drafted  into  sea-going  vessels.  The 
suggestion  was  that  barracks  should  be  erected  for  their 
accommodation  and  provided  with  attached  vessels;  and 
that  a  complete  system  of  training  should  be  organised ;  so 
that  every  man  upon  going  to  sea  in  a  ship  of  war  should  be 
acquainted  with  his  duties.  Commander  Noel  (now  Admiral 
of  the  Fleet  Sir  Gerard  H.  U.  Noel,  K.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.) 
kindly  sent  to  me  a  most  valuable  memorandum  upon  the 
subject,  in  which  he  presented  an  admirable  scheme  of 
organisation,  the  principles  of  which  were  afterwards  carried 
into  execution.  Of  late  years  those  principles  have  been 


I44     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

infringed ;  but  the  exigencies  of  the  Service  will  compel  the 
authorities  to  return  to  the  essential  conditions  laid  down  by 
Sir  Gerard  Noel,  whose  authority  is  entitled  to  the  greatest 
respect.  I  also  received  a  sagacious  letter  on  the  same 
subject  from  Commodore  John  Wilson,  under  whom  I 
afterwards  served  as  commander  in  the  Thunderer,  indicating 
the  necessity  of  framing  a  scheme  of  organisation  to  come 
into  force  as  soon  as  the  barracks  were  completed. 

With  regard  to  the  promotion  of  officers  and  men,  the 
state  of  things  nearly  forty  years  ago  finds  a  parallel  to-day. 
Then,  as  now,  a  very  large  proportion  of  officers,  from  the 
rank  of  commander  downwards,  cannot  hope  to  be  promoted. 
It  was  then  suggested  that  the  retiring  allowance  should  be 
increased.  It  is  true  that  in  1873  Mr.  Goschen,  by  granting 
an  increased  retiring  allowance  for  a  limited  period,  had  done 
his  best  to  effect  a  temporary  relief.  But  the  permanent  re- 
form,which  is  more  necessary  now  than  ever  before,  still  awaits 
achievement.  In  the  meantime  the  discontent  to  which  I 
drew  attention  in  1875,  is  by  no  means  less  detrimental  than 
it  was.  The  whole  difficulty,  as  usual,  is  financial.  Govern- 
ment after  Government,  of  what  political  complexion  soever, 
refuse  to  pay  the  Services  properly.  The  condition  of  affairs 
is  a  national  disgrace. 

At  that  time,  too,  the  Fleet  was  highly  deficient  in 
cruisers ;  and,  in  consequence,  the  sea-borne  trade  of  the 
country  was  exposed  to  great  danger  in  the  event  of  war,  as 
I  explained  to  the  House  of  Commons.  In  later  years  the 
requisite  ships  were  provided  ;  only,  in  a  moment  of  retrograde 
impulse,  to  be  abolished.  After  a  period  of  insecurity  and 
uneasiness,  the  cruiser  force  is  once  more  being  slowly 
increased. 

In  later  years  my  political  opponents  found  great  solace 
at  elections  in  saying  that  I  had  objected  to  the  abolition 
of  flogging  in  the  Navy.  The  question  arose  in  my  first 
Parliament.  What  I  actually  did — as  a  reference  to  Hansard 
will  confirm — was  to  point  out  that  in  many  cases  they 
were  the  best  men,  the  men  who  had  the  pluck  to  get 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  145 

into  a  row.  High-tempered,  full  of  exuberance,  they 
were  flogged  for  offences  against  discipline,  and  whereas 
a  flogging  was  soon  over  and  done  with,  the  alternative 
proposed  would  break  a  man's  heart  in  prison  and  deprive 
the  Navy  of  valuable  services.  Which,  then,  was  the  more 
humane  course  ?  To-day,  the  circumstances  and  conditions 
have  changed.  Discipline  is  better,  and  flogging,  thank 
goodness,  is  abolished. 

But  when  the  matter  was  under  discussion,  a  certain 
ex-naval  officer  assembled  a  public  meeting,  at  which  he 
attacked  me  with  great  vehemence  and  impassioned  elo- 
quence. He  was  interrupted  by  an  old  fellow  at  the  back 
of  the  hall,  who,  refusing  to  be  silenced,  was  asked  to  speak 
from  the  platform.  He  did.  He  gave  the  meeting  a  dose 
of  lower-deck  phraseology,  hot  and  strong;  and  told  the 
audience  they  were  not  to  believe  a  word  they  had  heard 
concerning  myself;  that  he  had  been  shipmates  both  with 
the  speaker  of  the  evening  and  with  myself.  He  devoted 
some  complimentary  remarks  to  me,  "but,"  says  he,  "as 
for  the  other,  he  flogged  every  man  in  the  ship  three  or 
four  times."  Whereupon  the  audience  rose  in  its  wrath  and 
drove  my  opponent  from  the  platform. 

Mr.  Disraeli  asked  me  to  survey  the  three  battleships  build- 
ing for  Turkey  and  the  one  battleship  building  for  Chile,  and  to 
give  him  my  opinion  as  to  whether  or  not  they  were  worth 
buying.  Disraeli  said  he  preferred  to  ask  me  rather  than 
the  Admiralty,  as  I  could,  if  necessary,  speak  on  the  matter 
in  Parliament.  "  And,"  said  Disraeli,  in  his  pontifical  way, 
"  I  like  young  brains."  I  advised  the  purchase  of  the  ships ; 
and  purchased  they  were,  being  added  to  the  British  Navy 
under  the  names  of  Superb,  Belleisle,  Orion  and  Neptune. 

In  those  days  I  owned  a  bull-dog  of  marked  personality. 
He  never  fought  unless  he  were  attacked ;  but  his  favourite 
recreation  was  to  rush  at  full  speed,  head  down,  at  every  dog 
bigger  than  himself.  The  instant  he  caught  sight  of  a  big 
dog,  he  shot  away  like  a  projectile  discharged  from  a  gun ; 
nothing  stopped  or  turned  him ;  and  the  unsuspecting  object 
VOL.  i. — 10 


146 

of  the  manifestation  would  go  down  like  a  ninepin.  Then, 
unless  he  were  detained  by  reprisals,  Butcher  would  return 
to  his  master  with  the  air  of  a  dog  who  knew  his  duty  and 
who  had  done  it.  At  that  time  the  streets  of  London  were 
haunted  by  Italian  image- venders,  who  carried  the  Twelve 
Apostles  and  other  sacred  statuettes  neatly  arranged  upon  a 
board,  which  the  merchant  balanced  on  his  head.  One  of 
those  pious  venders  was  walking  directly  in  the  headlong 
path  of  Butcher,  who  flashed  between  his  legs.  Down  came 
the  Apostles,  who  were  dashed  to  fragments,  for  which  I 
had  to  pay  about  £12  to  the  pedlar  of  saints. 

When  my  dog  thought  I  wanted  a  hansom,  he  used  to 
scramble  into  it,  jump  upon  the  seat,  and  sit  there  panting 
with  his  tongue  hanging  out.  He  performed  this  feat  one 
day  when  an  old  gentleman,  without  noticing  him,  had 
hailed  a  hansom.  The  old  gentleman,  climbing  slowly  into 
the  cab,  suddenly  saw  the  dog  on  the  seat,  and  was  so 
startled  that  he  tumbled  backwards  and  knocked  his  head 
on  the  pavement. 

In  1876,  having  passed  in  torpedo  work  in  the  Vernon,  I 
applied  for  the  appointment  of  second  in  command  in  a  big 
ship,  holding  then,  as  I  hold  now,  that  every  officer  who 
hopes  to  obtain  flag  rank  should  gain  experience  in  detailed 
routine  work  and  in  handling  and  organising  men,  which  can 
only  be  acquired  as  first  lieutenant  or  commander.  The 
second  in  command  of  a  man-of-war  gains  invaluable 
experience.  He  must  always  look  ahead  in  order  to  prevent 
things  occurring  which  would  cause  confusion  or  discomfort 
He  has  literally  not  one  minute  to  himself  in  the  day; 
thinking  ahead,  waylaying  the  wishes  of  his  captain,  and 
providing  not  only  for  what  will  occur  but  for  what  may 
occur,  and  being  ready  to  encounter  the  constant  unforeseen 
emergencies  inseparable  from  life  at  sea  in  a  man-of-war. 

I  was  accordingly  appointed  to  the  Thunderer  as  com- 
mander. Her  captain  was  John  Crawford  Wilson  (after- 
wards Rear-Admiral).  The  Navy  lost  one  of  the  best 
officers  that  ever  sailed  the  seas  when  he  died  in  1885.  He 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  147 

was  mentioned  in  the  Admiral's  dispatch  for  gallant  conduct 
in  the  affair  of  the  Peiho  Forts  in  1859,  served  on  the 
Pacific  Station,  and  was  commodore  of  the  Australian 
station.  He  was  commander  of  the  Bombay  screw  wooden 
first-rate,  when  she  was  burned  off  Montevideo  on  the 
I4th  December,  1864,  and  when  97  officers  and  men 
perished.  Many  of  those  who  were  lost  had  climbed  out 
on  the  bowsprit,  and  when  they  were  forced  overboard  by 
the  heat,  the  melting  lead  of  the  gammoning  (the  lead 
covering  to  the  chain  gammoning  securing  the  bowsprit) 
dropped  on  them  and  killed  them.  It  was  largely  due  to 
the  splendid  discipline  maintained  by  Wilson  that  the  loss 
was  not  far  greater.  The  men  held  their  posts  although 
the  flames  were  licking  up  through  the  skids,  so  that  the 
falls  of  the  last  boat,  lowered  from  the  yard-arm,  were 
actually  burned  through.  It  should  be  added  that  in 
this  disaster  the  Royal  Marines  enhanced  their  unrivalled 
reputation,  34  out  of  97  lost  belonging  to  the  corps,  the 
sentries  dying  at  their  posts. 

The  Thunderer  was  of  9190  (4407)  tons,  6270  (800)  h.p., 
and  belonged  to  the  Channel  Squadron.  She  was  an 
improved  central  battery  twin-screw  ironclad,  designed, 
with  the  vessels  of  a  similar  type,  Devastation  and  Dread* 
nought,  by  Mr.  E.  T.  Reed,  C.B.  In  these  ships  there  was 
no  propulsion  by  mast  and  sail  power.  They  also  embodied 
the  idea  of  limiting  the  armament  to  heavy  guns,  the 
secondary  armament  of  lighter  guns  being  omitted.  This 
arrangement,  after  having  been  wisely  abandoned  for  many 
years,  was  repeated  in  the  Dreadnought  of  the  year  1906, 
only  to  be  once  more  recognised  as  a  mistake.  One  of 
many  reasons  why  a  secondary  armament  was  essential, 
particularly  with  muzzle-loading  guns,  was  that,  lacking  it, 
the  men  might  have  been  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire  for 
some  time  before  they  could  reply,  a  most  demoralising 
position.  These  considerations  were  constantly  represented 
by  Captain  Wilson  to  the  Admiralty.  While  the  science  of 
gunnery  progressed,  the  element  of  time  has  remained  a 


148     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

factor  in  the  problem,  though  under  different  circumstances. 
The  Thunderer  carried  two  pairs  of  muzzle-loading  guns  in 
two  turrets;  the  foremost  pair  being  38-ton  guns,  hydraulic 
loading,  the  after  pair  35-ton  guns,  hand-loading.  She  was 
belted  with  14-inch  armour  along  the  water  line ;  and  the 
armour  projecting  squarely  from  the  hull,  its  edge  struck  the 
water  so  hard  when  the  ship  rolled,  that  she  was  shaken 
throughout  her  structure.  To  remedy  this  defect,  wedge- 
shaped  pieces  were  fitted  along  the  lower  edge  of  the  armour. 

Before  I  joined  the  ship  she  had  burst  a  boiler,  the 
escaping  steam  causing  great  loss  of  life.  Captain  Wilson, 
who  was  in  the  engine-room  at  the  time,  was  saved  by  his 
stature;  although  he  was  scalded,  his  face  was  above  the 
level  of  the  steam,  being  between  the  deck-beams  where 
there  was  an  air  cushion. 

That  the  boiler  exploded  was  due  to  the  remarkable 
coincidence  of  two  factors.  The  box  safety-valve  jammed, 
owing  to  the  two  different  metals  of  which  it  was  con- 
structed expanding  in  different  degrees.  And  the  pressure- 
gauge  tell-tale,  which  was  fitted  in  a  cogged  circle,  had  the 
needle  forced  right  round  the  circle  twice  or  more,  so  that 
it  showed  a  normal  pressure.  The  actual  pressure  must 
have  been  terrific. 

And  after  I  left  the  ship  one  of  her  guns  burst.  This 
accident  contributed  another  instance  in  favour  of  breech- 
loading  as  opposed  to  muzzle-loading  guns. 

The  accident  occurred  during  practice  at  quarters  in 
the  Gulf  of  Ismid,  on  2nd  January,  1879,  m  tne  fore-turret 
Captain  Alfred  John  Chatfield  had  succeeded  Captain 
Wilson  in  command.  Two  officers  and  nine  men  were  killed, 
and  thirty-five  persons  injured.  The  muzzle  was  blown 
off  from  about  two  feet  in  front  of  the  trunnions.  There 
was  much  discussion  then  and  subsequently  concerning  the 
cause  of  the  accident.  The  probability  is  that  the  bursting 
of  the  gun  was  due  to  its  having  been  double-loaded,  after 
a  previous  miss-fire,  which,  in  the  simultaneous  discharge  of 
the  rest  of  the  guns,  had  not  been  noticed.  The  committee 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  149 

which  reported  on  the  matter  on  1st  March,  1879,  adopted 
this  hypothesis,  in  preference  to  the  theory  that  there  had 
been  a  flaw  in  the  material. 

Captain  Edward  Seymour  (afterwards  Admiral  of  the 
Fleet  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  E.  H.  Seymour),  who  was  then  in 
command  of  the  troopship  Orontes,  in  his  book,  My  Naval 
Career  and  Travels,  thus  refers  to  the  incident : — 

"  From  Malta  I  brought  home  the  main  part  of  the  ship's 
company  of  H.M.S.  Thunderer,  on  board  which  ship  the 
terrible  explosion  of  the  38-ton  muzzle-loading  gun  had 
lately  occurred  in  her  foremost  turret.  Both  turret  guns 
were  being  fired  simultaneously,  but  evidently  one  did  not 
go  off.  It  may  seem  hard  to  believe  such  a  thing  could 
happen  and  not  be  noticed,  but  from  my  own  experience 
I  understand  it.  The  men  in  the  turret  often  stopped  their 
ears,  and  perhaps  shut  their  eyes,  at  the  moment  of  firing, 
and  then  instantly  worked  the  run-in  levers,  and  did  not 
notice  how  much  the  guns  had  recoiled.  This  no  doubt 
occurred.  Both  guns  were  then  at  once  reloaded,  and  the 
rammer's  indicator,  working  by  machinery,  set  fast  and 
failed  to  show  how  far  home  the  new  charge  had  gone. 
This,  too,  may  seem  unlikely,  but  no  doubt  it  happened ; 
and  the  gun  on  being  then  fired  burst,  killing  two  officers 
and  several  men,  and  wrecking  the  turret.  Experiments 
made  with  a  similar  gun  double-loaded,  burst  it  in  exactly 
the  same  way." 

I  agree.  I  have  frequently  been  in  the  turret  during 
practice,  and  I  have  myself  fired  several  rounds  and  I  can 
testify  that  the  concussion  was  so  tremendous  that  it  was 
impossible  to  hear  whether  one  gun  was  fired  or  both  guns 
were  fired.  Without  insisting  upon  details,  it  was  also  the 
fact  that  the  men  in  the  turret  could  not  tell  by  the  position 
of  the  hydraulic  rammer  whether  or  not  the  gun  had  already 
been  charged,  as  the  rammer  was  three-jointed  and  telescopic  : 
the  indicator  which  was  designed  to  show  the  position  of 
the  rammer  was  totally  unreliable ;  while  the  actual  loading 
of  the  gun  was  done  upon  the  battery  deck  below  the  turret. 


150     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Hence  the  loading  crew  must  also  have  been  unaware  that 
there  had  been  a  misfire.  The  system  in  use  in  the 
Thunderer  was  experimental,  and  after  the  accident  its 
defects  were  remedied.  I  then  wrote  to  The  Times  explain- 
ing what  the  system  had  been  and  how  it  had  been  improved, 
in  order  both  to  remove  any  misapprehension  there  might 
have  been  with  regard  to  the  efficiency  of  the  officers  and 
men  who  perished  in  the  disaster,  and  with  regard  to  the 
future  safety  of  guns'  crews.  I  was  reprimanded  by  the 
Admiralty  for  having  published  the  letter  while  on  full 
pay  in  the  command  of  the  Osborne;  but  the  reprimand 
was  (like  the  Bishop's  apron)  a  mere  form,  for  I  also 
received  a  private  letter  of  thanks. 

After  the  bursting  of  the  boiler,  but  before  the  gun 
accident,  the  Prince  of  Wales  at  my  suggestion  very  kindly 
came  on  board,  in  order  that  the  men's  belief  that  the 
Thunderer  was  an  unlucky  ship  should  be  removed.  The 
Prince  fired  the  fore  turret  guns  at  a  target  from  the  captain 
of  the  guns'  firing  position,  and  made  a  rattling  good  shot. 

The  Thunderer  was  employed  in  experimental  work, 
such  as  measuring  her  turning-circle  (the  diameter  of  which 
is  the  smallest  distance  the  ship  can  set  between  the  point 
at  which  she  begins  to  describe  a  semi-circle  and  the  point 
at  which  she  ends  it),  and  noting  her  behaviour  under 
various  circumstances  and  stresses  of  weather.  I  gained 
much  valuable  experience  in  her,  and  I  shall  always 
remember  Captain  Wilson  as  one  of  those  officers  from 
whose  skill  and  experience  I  learned  the  most. 

While  I  was  in  the  Thunderer  (1876-7)  I  made  one 
of  the  first  working  models  of  the  telephone  used  in  this 
country,  and  had  the  honour  of  presenting  it  to  H.R.H. 
the  Princess  of  Wales.  The  invention  was  first  exhibited 
before  the  British  Association  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece  on 
23rd  August,  1877;  and  it  was  shown  to  Queen  Victoria 
at  Osborne  on  I5th  January,  1878.  The  Telephone 
Company  was  established  during  the  same  year. 

The  Thunderer  was  sent  to  blow  up  a  vessel  which  had 


LADY   CHARLES   BERESFORD 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  151 

capsized  and  which  was  floating  in  the  Channel,  a  danger 
to  mariners.  Explosives  attached  to  her  side  tore  pieces 
out  of  her,  but  the  wreck  continued  to  float.  In  these 
cases  it  is  necessary  to  disintegrate  the  vessel,  whether 
sunk  or  floating,  into  fragments.  I  suggested  that  the  hull 
should  be  girdled  with  an  iron  hoop  to  which  explosives 
were  attached  at  intervals,  and  the  device  was  successful. 
The  explosion  cut  her  into  holes  like  the  perforations  of 
a  sheet  of  postage  stamps  and  she  broke  up. 

The  Thunderer  was  lying  off  Queenstown,  and  I  was 
watching  a  cutter  which  was  running  out  of  the  harbour. 
On  the  deck  was  a  group  of  Irish  farmers.  The  cutter 
suddenly  gybed,  the  boom  knocking  down  the  farmers. 
Getting  up,  they  instantly  fell  upon  one  another  with  sticks ; 
and  they  were  hard  at  it  when  over  came  the  boom  again, 
and  again  felled  them  all  to  the  deck.  It  could  be  they 
had  had  a  drop  of  liquor  taken,  which  confused  their 
intellects. 

In  the  year  1878  I  married  Miss  Jeromina  Gardner, 
daughter  of  the  late  Richard  Gardner,  M.P.  for  Leicester, 
and  of  Lucy  Countess  Mandelsloh,  whose  father,  Count 
Mandelsloh,  was  for  some  years  Minister  in  London,  repre- 
senting Wiirtemberg. 

Shortly  afterwards  I  was  appointed  to  command  the 
royal  yacht  Osborne.  The  Osborne  was  used  by  the  Prince 
of  Wales  (afterwards  King  Edward  VII).  In  those  days 
she  was  not  kept  in  commission  for  more  than  a  few  months 
in  each  year. 

Several  cruises  were  made  to  Denmark,  and  there  were 
many  shooting  expeditions.  On  one  such  occasion  I  was 
the  only  person  present  who  was  not  either  a  king  actual 
or  a  king  prospective.  There  were  the  King  of  Denmark, 
the  King  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  the  King  of  Greece, 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Cesarewitch,  the  Crown  Princes  of 
Denmark,  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  of  Greece.  We  shot 
foxes,  hares,  deer,  and  anything  that  came  along ;  and  I  was 
laughed  at  when  my  instincts  forbade  me  to  shoot  a  fox. 


152     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Upon  a  return  voyage,  when  all  the  Royal  children  were 
on  board,  a  gale  sprang  up  just  off  the  Skaw.  The  starboard 
paddle-wheel  was  smashed  upon  some  wreckage ;  and  the 
next  thing  I  saw  was  a  small  craft  being  driven  on  a  lee 
shore.  The  Osborne  dropped  anchor,  in  order  both  that 
the  paddle-wheel  should  be  repaired  and  that  the  crew  of 
the  driving  vessel  might  be  assisted.  The  only  way  to 
rescue  them  was  to  veer  a  boat  astern  with  a  hawser.  Just 
as  the  arrangement  was  ready,  to  my  delight  I  perceived 
the  crew — there  were  four — embarking  in  their  own  boats. 
They  reached  the  shore  in  safety,  but  their  ship  was 
wrecked. 

It  was  then  the  system  in  the  royal  yachts  to  retain  the 
officers  in  her  for  long  periods.  One  officer  had  been  in 
the  Osborne  for  fourteen  years.  I  ventured  to  suggest  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  that  under  these  conditions  his  acquaintance 
with  the  officers  of  the  Fleet  was  necessarily  limited,  and 
that  by  means  of  restricting  the  time  of  service  in  the  Osborne 
to  two  years,  he  might  become  acquainted  with  a  succession 
of  officers.  With  his  habitual  courtesy  and  address,  the 
Prince  adopted  the  suggestion. 

Queen  Victoria  was,  however,  a  little  perturbed  by  the 
change.  Her  Majesty  said  to  me  that  she  hoped  I  should 
not  endeavour  to  change  the  officers  in  the  royal  yacht. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  I  replied.  "  I  have  no  such  power.  I  only 
made  a  suggestion  to  the  Prince," 

"  You  may  be  right,"  said  the  Queen,  "  but  I  am  an  old 
woman  now,  and  I  like  to  see  faces  I  know  about  me,  and 
not  have  to  begin  again  with  new  faces." 

We  had  some  excellent  boat-racing  in  the  Osborne.  One 
famous  race  was  rowed  at  Cowes  between  the  officers  of  the 
royal  yachts  Victoria  and  Albert  and  Osborne,  in  six-oared 
galleys.  Her  Majesty  Queen  Victoria  came  down  to  the 
jetty  to  witness  the  contest  The  stroke  of  the  Victoria 
and  Albert  was  my  old  comrade  in  the  Marlborough  and 
Bellerophon,  Swinton  Holland.  I  was  stroke  of  the  Osborne 's 
crew.  At  first  the  Osborne  drew  ahead — rather,  I  think,  to 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  153 

the  Queen's  dismay — but  eventually  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
won  the  race,  to  the  delight  of  Her  Majesty. 

Another  great  race  was  rowed  between  the  Osborne 
six-oared  galley  and  the  Dockyard  boat.  It  took  place  off 
Southsea,  the  whole  of  the  foreshore  being  lined  with  people. 
The  Osborne  won.  Her  boat  was  manned  by  Irish  blue- 
jackets whom  I  had  trained  myself. 

While  I  was  commanding  the  Osborne  one  of  the  crew 
met  with  a  singular  accident.  We  were  shooting  the  seine 
off  Calshot,  and,  as  it  fouled,  I  sent  a  man  down  to  clear  it. 
When  he  came  up,  he  said  that  he  had  been  stabbed  through 
the  hand  "by  some  beast."  I  examined  the  wound  and 
found  that  his  hand  had  been  pierced  right  through,  and  I 
thought  that  he  must  have  come  upon  a  nail  or  a  splinter  in 
a  piece  of  wreckage.  But  when  we  hauled  up  the  seine, 
there  was  a  huge  sting-ray.  I  cut  out  the  sting  and  gave 
it  to  the  Princess.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  fish  had 
transfixed  the  man's  hand.  The  sailor  is  still  alive,  and  is 
well  known  in  Portsmouth  for  his  political  enthusiasms.  It 
was  in  the  same  haul  that  we  caught  a  red  mullet  weighing 
about  six  pounds,  the  biggest  I  have  ever  seen. 

I  ought  here  to  record  the  very  great  interest  taken 
by  the  Royal  Family  in  all  matters  connected  with  the 
Navy.  While  I  was  in  command  of  the  Osborne,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  graciously  consented  to  attend  one  of  the  gather- 
ings of  members  of  Parliament  who  came  at  my  invitation 
to  see  something  of  the  Navy.  On  this  occasion  they  visited 
Portsmouth  Dockyard,  where  they  were  shown  everything 
of  interest. 

One  of  the  experiments  performed  for  the  entertainment 
and  the  instruction  of  the  party  was  firing  at  a  floating  cask 
with  bombs  thrown  by  hand,  a  method  of  warfare  since 
discontinued  owing  to  the  danger  it  involves  to  the  person 
bombarding.  When  the  cask  exploded,  a  stave  flew  between 
the  Prince  and  the  general  commanding  at  Portsmouth, 
Sir  Hastings  Doyle.  Had  it  struck  either  of  them  he  must 
have  been  killed. 


154     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  general's  brother,  Percy  Doyle,  a  dear  old  gentle- 
man well  known  in  society,  had  very  bad  sight.  I  once  saw 
him  trying  to  eat  a  red  mullet  done  up  in  paper.  After  a 
good  deal  of  harpooning,  he  got  it  out,  but  put  the  paper 
in  his  mouth.  We  always  told  him  he  had  swallowed  the 
births,  deaths,  and  marriages  column  of  Ttte  Times. 

On  Sunday  the  24th  of  March,  1878  (the  date  of 
my  engagement  to  Miss  Gardner),  the  Eurydice,  training 
frigate,  capsized  off  the  Isle  of  Wight  in  a  sudden  squall 
and  sank.  The  total  loss  of  life  was  about  300,  only  two 
being  saved.  She  was  on  her  way  home  from  the  West 
Indies.  Coming  under  the  Isle  of  Wight,  she  hauled  her  wind 
for  Spithead,  thus  closing  the  land,  so  that  it  was  impossible 
for  the  watch  to  see  a  squall  coming  up  from  windward. 
The  captain,  the  Hon.  Marcus  A.  S.  Hare,  was  anxious  to 
reach  the  harbour  as  soon  as  possible  in  order  to  give  the 
men  Sunday  leisure.  It  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon when  a  sudden  squall  struck  the  ship,  and  she  heeled 
over;  the  lee  main-deck  ports  being  open,  according  to 
custom,  she  took  in  a  good  deal  of  water,  depressing  her 
bows ;  so  that  instead  of  capsizing,  she  simply  sailed  straight 
to  the  bottom,  her  fore-foot  being  broken  off  with  the  force 
of  the  impact,  and  her  topgallant  masts  remaining  above  the 
surface.  There  was  no  time  to  shorten  sail.  When  she  was 
raised  it  was  found  that  only  one  rope,  the  mainroyal  sheet, 
had  carried  away. 

Rear-Admiral  Foley,  admiral-superintendent  of  Ports- 
mouth Dockyard,  kindly  invited  me  to  be  his  guest  to  take 
part  in  the  salvage  operations  arranged  for  the  raising  of  the 
Eurydice.  That  occasion  was,  I  think,  the  first  upon  which  the 
*  newly  invented  wire  hawsers  were  actually  tested  in  practical 
work.  When  they  were  introduced  it  was  thought  that  they 
would  not  be  flexible  enough  for  their  purpose.  They  were, 
however,  used  with  great  success  in  raising  the  Eurydice. 
The  hawsers  were  passed  under  the  hull  of  the  sunken  ship 
and  secured  to  lighters  moored  on  either  side  of  her.  As  the 
tide  went  down,  the  hawsers  were  hove  taut,  and  water  was 


MEMBER  FOR  WATERFORD  155 

let  into  the  lighters  so  that  they  should  be  brought  as  low 
in  the  water  as  possible.  The  water  was  then  pumped  out 
of  the  lighters,  thus  putting  the  utmost  strain  upon  the 
hawsers.  Then,  as  the  rising  of  the  tide  exerted  a  powerful 
lift  upon  lighters  and  hawsers,  the  lighters  were  towed 
towards  the  shore,  in  order  to  drag  the  wreck  upon  the 
beach.  As  soon  as  she  grounded,  the  hawsers  were 
fleeted  and  the  whole  process  gone  through  again  until  at 
low  tide  she  was  nearly  high  and  dry. 

My  old  ship,  the  Thunderer,  which  took  a  hawser  to  her 
after  capstan  to  tow  the  Eurydice,  had  the  solid  iron  spindle 
of  the  capstan  pulled  right  out  of  her,  as  a  long  nail  is 
bent  and  dragged  out  of  a  piece  of  timber.  I  well  remember 
the  intense  excitement  when  the  wreck  first  shifted  from 
her  bed.  Eventually  we  hauled  her  up  the  beach.  I  was 
just  then  taking  a  bearing  for  Admiral  Foley,  and  could  not 
have  given  a  better  holloa  if  I  had  viewed  a  fox. 

Before  the  water  was  pumped  out  of  her,  and  as  she  lay 
on  her  side  on  the  beach,  I  climbed  in  at  a  porthole,  and  sat 
there  waiting  till  I  could  enter.  As  the  water  fell,  I  saw 
emerge  the  sentry's  clock  on  the  main-deck.  The  hands 
had  stopped  at  4.5.  The  bodies  lay  in  heaps,  tangled  amid 
ropes ;  some  had  lost  a  head  and  some  a  limb.  Black  mud 
had  filtered  in  everywhere,  even  (as  Sir  Edward  Seymour 
remarks)  into  the  closed  drawers  of  the  chests  in  the 
cabins. 

When,  as  a  cadet,  I  was  learning  to  heave  the  lead  from 
the  chains  of  the  Eurydice,  which,  as  I  have  already  related, 
was  then  moored  off  Haslar  Creek  in  Portsmouth  Harbour, 
I  little  thought  I  should  one  day  help  to  raise  her  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea. 

Dr.  Boyd  Carpenter  (late  Bishop  of  Ripon),  in  his 
charming  volume  of  recollections,  Some  Pages  of  my  Life, 
narrates  a  remarkable  story  concerning  the  Eurydice,  as  it 
was  told  to  him.  Sir  John  MacNeill  was  the  Bishop's 
cousin,  and,  like  other  members  of  his  family,  had  the  gift 
of  second  sight. 


156     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

"Sir  John  MacNeill,"  writes  the  Bishop,  "was  looking 
out  of  the  window  in  Sir  John  Cowell's  room  at  Windsor, 
when  suddenly  he  exclaimed  :  '  Good  Heavens  !  Why  don't 
they  close  the  portholes  and  reef  the  topsails ! '  Sir  John 
Cowell  looked  up  and  asked  him  what  he  meant.  He  said, 
in  reply,  that  he  hardly  knew ;  but  that  he  had  seen  a  ship 
coming  up  Channel  in  full  sail,  with  open  portholes,  while  a 
heavy  squall  was  descending  upon  her.  At  the  very  time 
this  conversation  was  taking  place  the  fatal  storm  fell  upon 
the  Eurydice,  and  she  foundered  as  she  was  coming  in  sight 
of  home." 

In  1880,  while  I  was  still  in  command  of  the  Osborne,  I 
lost  my  seat  at  Waterford.  In  the  following  year,  desiring 
to  hold  another  independent  command  before  my  promotion 
to  captain,  I  applied  to  go  to  sea  again,  and  was  appointed 
to  command  H.M.S.  Condor. 


CHAPTER   XVII 
WITH   THE   PRINCE   IN   INDIA 

IN  September,  1875,  I  was  appointed  A.D.C.  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (our  late  King)  to  accompany  his 

Royal  Highness  upon  his  visit  to  India.  The  complete 
list  of  the  suite  was  as  follows  :  The  Duke  of  Sutherland, 
K.G. ;  Sir  Bartle  Frere ;  Lord  Suffield,  Head  of  the  Prince's 
Household;  Major-General  Lord  Alfred  Paget,  Clerk- 
Marshal  to  H.M.  the  Queen;  Lord  Aylesford;  Major- 
General  Probyn,  V.C.,  Equerry  to  the  Prince,  in  charge  of 
the  transport  and  sporting  arrangements;  Colonel  Arthur 
Ellis,  Grenadier  Guards,  Equerry  to  the  Prince ;  Mr.  Francis 
Knollys  (afterwards  Lord  Knollys),  the  Prince's  private 
secretary ;  Surgeon-General  Fayrer,  Physician  to  the  Prince ; 
Captain  H.  Carr  Glyn,  Royal  Navy,  A.D.C.  to  H.M.  the 
Queen,  commanding  H.M.S.  Serapis;  Colonel  Owen 
Williams ;  Lieutenant  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  Royal 
Navy,  A.D.C.  to  the  Prince;  Lord  Carington,  A.D.C.  to 
the  Prince ;  the  Rev.  Canon  Duckworth,  Chaplain ;  Lieu- 
tenant (afterwards  Colonel)  Augustus  FitzGeorge,  Rifle 
Brigade,  extra  A.D.C.  to  the  Prince ;  Commander  Durrant, 
Royal  Navy,  commanding  royal  yacht  Osborne ;  Dr.  W.  H. 
Russell,  hon.  private  secretary  to  the  Prince,  chronicler  of  the 
voyage;  Mr.  Albert  Grey  (afterwards  Lord  Grey),  private 
secretary  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere ;  Mr.  Sydney  Hall,  artist. 

The  Indian  officers,  who  joined  the  suite  at  Bombay, 
and  whose  energy  and  ability  were  beyond  all  praise,  were 
Major-General  Sam  Browne,  V.C.,  in  charge  of  transport ; 
Major  Williams,  in  charge  of  horses  and  grooms;  Major 


157 


158     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Bradford,  head  of  the  police  and  responsible  for  the  safety 
of  the  person  of  the  Prince;  Major  Sartorius,  V.C.,  in  charge 
of  tents  and  servants ;  and  Major  Henderson,  linguist. 

The  first  announcement  of  the  intention  of  the  Prince  to 
visit  the  Indian  Empire  was  made  by  Lord  Salisbury  to  the 
Council  of  India  on  i6th  March,  1875.  The  matter  was 
subsequently  discussed  at  length  both  in  Parliament  and  in 
the  Press.  The  condition  of  affairs  in  India,  where  the 
mass  of  the  ruling  princes  and  chieftains  had  still  to  realise 
that  the  rule  of  the  Honourable  East  India  Company  had 
given  place  to  a  greater  governance,  rendered  the  visit  of  the 
future  Sovereign  of  paramount  importance  ;  and  the  Prince's 
sagacity  was  seldom  more  admirably  exemplified  than  in 
his  determination  to  visit  India  as  the  Heir-Apparent  of 
the  Crown.  That  the  scheme  was  entirely  and  supremely 
successful  in  achieving  the  object  for  which  it  was  designed, 
was  due  to  the  Prince's  zeal,  ability,  tact  and  indomitable 
vigour.  He  gave  his  whole  mind  to  the  enterprise ;  thought 
of  everything  in  advance ;  and  set  aside  his  personal  comfort 
and  convenience  from  first  to  last.  Only  one  regret  was 
present  in  the  minds  of  all :  the  regret  for  the  unavoidable 
absence  of  the  Princess. 

The  whole  history  of  the  episode  has  been  so  excellently 
well  told  by  the  late  Dr.  William  Howard  Russell,  the  famous 
war  correspondent,  who  was  a  member  of  the  suite,  in  his 
The  Prince  of  Wales' s  Tour  (London,  1 877 ;  Sampson  Low) 
that  any  detailed  account  of  it  on  my  part  would  be 
superfluous. 

The  Prince  left  England  on  nth  October,  1875,  and 
embarked  in  H.M.S.  Serapis  at  Brindisi  on  the  i6th.  In 
the  Suez  Canal  we  heard  of  the  purchase  of  Suez  Canal 
shares  by  the  British  Government.  The  Serapis  arrived  at 
Bombay  on  8th  November. 

Thenceforward  the  Prince's  tour  was  an  unresting  progress 
of  Durbars,  receptions,  dinners,  visits,  processions,  ceremonies, 
speeches,  addresses,  fireworks,  entertainments,  investitures, 
reviews,  varied  only  by  intervals  of  sport.  From  Bombay, 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  159 

the  Prince  went  to  Goa,  and  thence  to  Ceylon,  visiting 
Colombo,  Kandy,  where  he  viewed  the  sacred  tooth  of  Gotama 
Buddha,  and  Ruanwalla,  where  there  was  an  elephant  hunt. 
Then  he  went  to  Tuticorin,  Madura,  Trichinopoly,  Madras, 
Calcutta,  Bankipoor,  Benares,  Lucknow,  Cawnpore,  Delhi, 
Lahore,  Cashmir,  Umritsar,  Agra,  Gwalior,  and  Jeypoor. 
From  Jeypoor  he  went  into  camp  in  the  Terai  and  enjoyed 
excellent  sport.  Then,  in  Nepal,  under  the  auspices  of  Sir 
Jung  Bahadur,  there  was  the  great  elephant  hunt.  From 
Nepal  the  Prince  went  to  Allahabad,  then  to  Bombay, 
whence  he  sailed  on  nth  March,  1876,  having  been  in  India 
seventeen  weeks  exactly.  "  The  Prince,"  wrote  Dr.  Russell 
on  that  date,  "  has  travelled  nearly  7600  miles  by  land  and 
2300  by  sea,  knows  more  Chiefs  than  all  the  Viceroys  and 
Governors  together,  and  seen  more  of  the  country  in  the  time 
than  any  other  living  man." 

On  the  outward  voyage  his  Royal  Highness  visited  the 
King  of  Greece.  When  the  King  and  Queen  were  leaving 
the  Serapis  after  dining  on  board,  we  showed  them  com- 
pliment and  honour  by  setting  them  alight.  The  blue 
lights  burning  at  the  main-yard  being  exactly  above  the 
boat  in  which  their  Majesties  were  going  ashore,  dropped 
flakes  of  fire  upon  them.  The  Prince  also  visited  the 
Khedive.  On  the  return  voyage,  the  Prince  met  at  Suez 
Lord  Lytton,  who  was  on  his  way  to  India  to  succeed 
Lord  Northbrook  as  Viceroy ;  was  again  entertained  by  the 
Khedive ;  visited  Malta ;  called  at  Gibraltar ;  and  visited 
the  King  of  Spain  and  the  King  of  Portugal.  The  Serapis 
was  accompanied  by  the  royal  yacht  Osborne,  Commander 
Durrant,  and  H.M.S.  Raleigh,  Captain  Tryon.  The  Prince 
landed  in  England  on  nth  May,  1876. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  Lord  Lytton  went  out  in  the 
Orontes,  one  of  the  Imperial  Service  troopships,  as  they 
were  called.  The  troopship  service  was  then  at  times 
conducted  by  the  Royal  Navy,  a  practice  since  discontinued. 
The  Orontes  was  commanded  by  Captain  E.  H.  Seymour 
(afterwards  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Edward 


160     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Seymour,  G.C.B.,  O.M.,  G.C.V.O.,  LL.D.)  In  his  very 
interesting  book,  My  Naval  Career  and  Travels,  Sir  Edward 
Seymour  writes :  "  At  Suez,  by  arrangement,  we  met 
H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales  (our  late  King)  on  his  way 
home  in  the  Serapis.  At  Aden  Lord  Lytton  landed  in 
state,  it  being  the  first  point  reached  of  his  new  dominions." 
The  point  illustrates  the  working  in  detail  of  the  great 
scheme  of  Imperial  organisation  which  was  conceived  by  the 
master-mind  of  Disraeli,  and  which  he  continued  to  carry 
into  execution  so  long  as  he  was  in  power. 

Upon  landing  at  Bombay,  I  rode  up  to  Government 
House  with  my  brother,  Lord  William,  precisely  as  I  had 
ridden  up  with  another  brother,  Lord  Marcus,  exactly  six 
years  previously,  on  the  same  day  of  the  year.  Lord  William 
was  then  extra  A.D.C.  to  the  Viceroy,  Lord  Northbrook, 
having  been  appointed  to  that  post  as  a  subaltern  in  the 
9th  Lancers.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  A.D.C.  to  Lord 
Lytton,  in  which  capacity  he  attended  the  Viceroy  at  the 
Durbar  at  which  Queen  Victoria  was  proclaimed  Empress 
of  India.  He  was  afterwards  military  secretary  to  three 
successive  viceroys,  Lords  Ripon,  Dufferin  and  Lansdowne  ; 
altogether  he  served  on  the  personal  staff  of  five  viceroys. 
From  1877  to  1879,  while  nominally  in  attendance  upon  the 
Viceroy,  Lord  William  fought  in  the  Jowaki  expedition  of 
1877-78,  the  Afghan  war,  during  which  he  was  present  at 
the  capture  of  Ali  Musjid,  and  the  Zulu  war  of  1879.  "  In 
the  latter,"  wrote  a  military  correspondent  of  The  Times 
(3 ist  December,  1900),  "he  served  as  a  staff  officer  during 
the  reconnaissance  across  the  White  Umvolusi  River  and 
at  the  battle  of  Ulundi.  It  was  in  Zululand,  in  July,  1879, 
that  Beresford  won  the  V.C.  for  halting,  when  closely 
pursued  by  the  enemy,  to  take  a  wounded  non-commissioned 
officer  on  his  horse.  When  the  soldier  at  first  declined  to 
risk  the  officer's  life  by  giving  the  latter's  horse  a  double 
burden,  Beresford  is  understood  to  have  hotly  declared  that 
unless  the  man  immediately  got  up  on  the  saddle  he  would 
himself  dismount  and  '  punch  his  head.' " 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  161 

For  his  services  in  the  Burmese  expedition  of  1886,  he 
received  a  brevet-colonelcy;  and  in  1891  he  was  promoted 
full  colonel;  in  1894  he  received  the  K.C.S.I. ;  and  there- 
after remained  on  the  active  list  of  the  Army,  but  unem- 
ployed. Of  his  exploits  on  the  turf  it  is  not  here  the  place 
to  speak ;  but  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I  have  placed  on  record 
in  this  place  some  account  of  Lord  William's  Indian  service, 
which  extended  over  nearly  twenty  years.  Few  men  have 
earned  so  universal  an  affection  as  that  which  Lord  William 
inspired,  alike  in  European  and  native.  His  ability  in 
matters  of  administration  was  remarkable,  and  he  acquired 
an  extraordinary  influence  over  the  natives  of  India.  The 
correspondent  of  The  Times,  already  quoted,  observes  that 
Lord  William  might  have  had  a  distinguished  career  in  any 
profession ;  that  he  might  have  been  a  great  soldier,  a  great 
diplomat,  a  great  political  officer,  had  not  his  passion  for 
the  turf  diverted  a  part  of  his  energies.  It  may  be  so ;  but 
perhaps  one  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  one  liked  him  for 
what  he  was  and  not  for  what  he  might  have  been ;  and 
also  that  he  did  not  do  so  badly.  The  warmest  affection 
existed  between  my  brother  and  myself;  and  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1900,  was  a  great  grief  to  me.  But  that 
was  in  the  far  future  when  I  landed  from  the  Serapis  and  we 
rode  up  to  Government  House  together. 

Of  the  other  members  of  the  Prince's  suite  I  retain  the 
most  pleasant  recollections.  Among  them  I  especially 
recall  Major-General  Probyn  (afterwards  General  the  Right 
Hon.  Sir  Dighton  Macnaghten  Probyn,  V.C.,  etc.  etc.); 
Major-General  Sam  Browne,  V.C.  (afterwards  General  Sir 
Samuel  James  Browne,  V.C.,  K.C.S.I.,  etc.) ;  Major  Bradford 
(afterwards  Sir  Edward  Ridley  Colborne  Bradford,  Bart, 
K.C.S.I.,  G.C.V.O.) ;  Surgeon -General  Fayrer  (afterwards  Sir 
Joseph  Fayrer,  Bart.);  and  Dr.  Russell  (afterwards  Sir 
William  Howard  Russell,  C.V.O.,  LL.D.). 

Major-General  Probyn,  of  magnificent  presence,  black- 
bearded,  hawk-eyed,  a  hero  of  the  Mutiny,  was  universally 
respected    and    beloved    by   the    native    population,    over 
VOL.  i. — ii 


1 62     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

whom  he  owned  a  great  influence.  He  was  one  of 
the  finest  soldiers  and  most  delightful  companions  it  has 
been  my  fortune  to  know.  In  1876,  he  already  had  twenty- 
five  years'  service,  including  the  Trans-Indus  frontier  affair 
of  1852-57,  the  Mutiny  (in  which  his  name  was  a  terror),  in 
China  in  1860,  in  the  Umbeyla  campaign  of  1863.  He  was 
Colonel  of  Probyn's  Horse,  nth  King  Edward's  Own 
Lancers ;  afterwards  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Purse,  Comp- 
troller and  Treasurer  of  the  Household  of  the  present  King 
when  he  was  Prince  of  Wales ;  and  since  1901,  extra  Equerry 
to  the  King. 

Probyn  and  I  assisted  at  a  surgical  operation.  A  mahout 
had  his  hand  smashed ;  and  we  held  him  while  the  surgeon 
amputated  his  finger  and  thumb. 

Major-General  Sam  Browne,  V.C.,  had  served  in  the 
second  Sikh  war  with  distinction,  and  during  the  Mutiny 
led  the  surprise  attack  upon  the  rebels  at  Sirpura,  at  dawn 
upon  3 1st  August,  1858.  Almost  single-handed,  he  charged 
the  guns,  receiving  the  wound  resulting  in  the  loss  of  his 
arm.  For  this  service,  he  was  awarded  the  V.C.  During 
the  Prince's  tour  he  represented  the  Indian  Army;  nor  could 
a  finer  or  more  efficient  representative  have  been  selected. 

Major  Bradford  had  performed  gallant  and  distinguished 
service  in  the  Mutiny.  He  had  lost  an  arm,  under  circum- 
stances which  may  be  worth  repetition.  Together  with  a 
brother  officer,  Captain  Curtis,  and  a  trooper,  Bradford  was 
tiger-shooting.  Seated  in  a  mechan  (tree-shelter),  he  wounded 
a  tiger,  breaking  its  back ;  his  second  barrel  missed  fire ; 
and  Bradford  fell  from  the  mechan  on  the  top  of  the  tiger, 
which  seized  him.  Bradford  thrust  his  fist  down  the  beast's 
throat ;  and  while  Curtis  was  trying  to  get  another  shot,  the 
tiger  mangled  Bradford's  arm  up  to  the  shoulder.  Curtis 
eventually  killed  the  animal.  The  party  had  a  long  and 
painful  distance  to  traverse  before  they  reached  help. 
Bradford's  arm  was  amputated  without  chloroform.  In  1890, 
Bradford  was  appointed  commissioner  of  police  in  the 
Metropolis,  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  good  deal  of  dis- 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  163 

content  in  the  Force,  and  speedily  proved  the  worth  of  his 
unrivalled  experience  and  ability. 

Surgeon-General  Fayrer,  I  remember,  had  a  remarkable 
way  with  snakes.  He  kept  a  selection  of  the  most  deadly 
reptiles  in  a  wheelbarrow,  nestled  in  straw.  With  his  naked 
hands  he  would  uncover  them,  and,  deftly  catching  them  by 
the  neck,  force  them  to  exhibit  their  fangs. 

Someone  composed  a  set  of  irreverent  verses  dedicated 
to  the  surgeon-general : 

"  Little  Joe  Fayrer 

Sent  for  his  bearer 
And  asked  for  his  Christmas  pie. 

He  put  in  his  thumb, 

And  pulled  out  a  plum, 
And  found  it  a  K.C.S.I." 

Dr.  W.  H.  Russell,  the  famous  war  correspondent,  who 
in  his  letters  to  The  Times  during  the  Crimean  war  did  so 
much  good  service,  was  a  most  delightful  companion.  He 
is  remembered  by  all  who  knew  him,  both  for  his  talents  and 
for  his  sympathetic  and  affectionate  disposition  and  his 
unfailing  sense  of  humour.  He  was  one  of  my  greatest  friends. 
During  the  voyage,  he  occupied  the  cabin  next  to  mine. 

The  Prince  having  requested  him  to  provide  himself  with 
a  uniform,  Dr.  Russell  designed  a  kind  of  Ambassadorial 
dress  of  great  splendour,  with  so  generous  a  gold  stripe  to 
his  kersey  breeches,  that  we  told  him  he  had  gold  trousers 
with  a  white  stripe  inside.  These  effulgent  garments  unfor- 
tunately carried  away  when  the  doctor  was  climbing  upon  an 
elephant,  on  his  way  to  a  Durbar.  I  executed  temporary 
repairs  upon  his  person  with  safety  pins ;  and  implored  him 
not  to  stoop.  But  when  it  came  to  his  turn  to  bow,  bow  he 
must ;  the  jury  rig  parted,  and  a  festoon  of  white  linen,  of 
extraordinary  length,  waved  behind  him.  Fortunately,  the 
assembled  Indian  Princes  thought  it  was  part  of  his  uniform. 

At  Mian  Mir,  during  the  ceremony  of  a  great  review  of 
troops,  Dr.  Russell,  who  was  riding  among  the  suite  mounted 
on  a  half-broken  Arab,  was  suddenly  heard  to  shout,  "  Whoa, 
you  villainous  brute ! "  At  the  same  moment,  several  of  the 


1 64     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

suite  were  knocked  endways.  The  Arab  then  got  the  bit  in 
his  teeth,  and  tore  away  past  the  Prince  down  the  whole  line. 
Dr.  Russell's  helmet  was  jerked  to  the  back  of  his  head,  his 
puggaree  unfurled  in  a  long  train  floating  behind  him,  he 
vanished  into  the  distance  and  we  did  not  see  him  again 
until  dinner-time.  He  passed  so  close  to  the  Prince,  that 
had  the  doctor  another  thickness  of  gold  on  his  gold  trousers, 
there  would  have  been  an  accident  to  his  Royal  Highness. 

The  Duke  of  Sutherland,  during  the  Prince's  journeys 
overland  in  India,  took  an  intense  delight  in  driving  the 
engine,  from  which  it  was  hard  to  tear  him  away.  We  had 
halted  at  a  station  where  the  customary  ceremonial  had 
been  arranged,  and  had  changed  into  uniform,  all  save  the 
Duke,  who  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

"  Where  can  he  be  ?  "  said  the  Prince. 

I  submitted  that  he  might  be  on  the  engine,  and  went  to 
see.  Sure  enough,  the  Duke  was  sitting  on  the  rail,  his  red 
shirt  flung  open,  his  sun-helmet  on  the  back  of  his  head.  In 
either  black  fist  he  grasped  a  handful  of  cotton  waste,  with 
which  he  was  mopping  up  the  perspiration  of  honest  toil. 
He  hurried  to  his  carriage  to  change  into  uniform ;  and 
presently  appeared,  buttoning  his  tunic  with  one  hand.  In 
the  other  he  still  grasped  a  skein  of  cotton  waste.  The 
Prince  looked  at  him. 

"  Can  nothing  be  done  ?  "  said  the  Prince  sadly. 

The  great  elephant  hunt  in  Nepal  took  place  on  the 
25th  February,  1876,  under  the  auspices  of  Sir  Jung  Bahadur 
(afterwards  the  Maharaja  Sir  Jung  Bahadur,  G.C.B.,  G.C.S.I.). 
A  herd  of  wild  elephants,  captained  by  a  male  of  gigantic 
size  and  valour,  who  had  already  vanquished  Sir  Jung's  most 
formidable  fighting  elephants,  had  been  tracked  down  in 
the  forest.  Sir  Jung  determined  that,  come  what  would,  he 
should  be  captured.  Sir  Jung  led  the  Prince  and  several  of 
his  suite,  all  well  mounted  on  horses,  into  the  forest,  to  the 
rendezvous,  to  which  the  wild  herd  was  to  be  driven.  But  in 
the  meantime,  the  big  elephant  had  given  the  hunters  the  slip. 

I  was  of  the  hunting  party,  and  I  had  the  stiffest  run  of 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  165 

my  life,  and  at  the  end  of  it  there  were  left  besides  myself 
only  my  companion — I  think  he  was  Mr.  Greenwood — and 
six  Indian  notables.  Mounted  on  swift  pad  elephants,  we 
pursued  that  tremendous  beast  at  top  speed  from  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning  till  six  in  the  evening,  bursting  through  the 
jungle,  splashing  through  rivers,  climbing  the  rocky  steeps 
of  hills  upon  which  there  appeared  to  be  no  foothold  except 
for  monkeys,  and  down  which  the  elephants  slid  upon  their 
bellies.  So  we  rode  hour  after  hour,  hanging  on  the  ropes 
secured  to  the  guddee,  lying  flat  upon  the  steed's  back  to 
avoid  being  scraped  off  his  back  by  branches,  until  the 
quarry,  escaping  us  ran  straight  into  Sir  Jung  Bahadur's 
party  of  horsemen. 

There,  in  an  open  space  set  with  sword-like  reeds,  stood 
the  elephant,  his  flanks  heaving,  his  head  and  trunk  moving 
from  side  to  side.  He  had  one  huge  tusk  and  the  stump  of 
the  other. 

It  was  the  business  of  the  horsemen  in  front  to  keep  him 
employed  in  the  open  while  the  champion  fighting  elephants, 
Jung  Pershaud  and  Bijli  Pershaud,  were  being  brought  up. 
Again  and  again  he  charged,  the  riders  eluding  his  rushes, 
the  Prince  among  them.  A  stumble  or  a  fall — and  nothing 
could  have  saved  the  rider.  Presently  the  elephant,  weary- 
ing of  these  profitless  tactics,  wheeled  and  took  refuge  in  a 
swamp,  where  the  reeds  and  rushes  hid  him.  But  there  was 
nothing  to  do  but  await  the  arrival  of  the  fighting  elephants. 
The  fugitive  employed  his  respite  in  cooling  himself  by  pour- 
ing water  over  his  heated  person.  In  the  meantime,  Jung 
Pershaud,  the  terrible  rogue  elephant,  somewhat  fatigued 
like  his  quarry,  was  drawing  near.  Jung  Pershaud,  in  order 
to  give  warning  of  his  very  dangerous  presence,  was  hung 
about  the  neck  with  a  large  bell,  like  a  railway-station  bell. 
When  he  was  not  in  action  he  was  secured  with  ropes. 

Presently,  from  out  the  jungle,  there  sounded  the  uneven, 
minatory  clangour  of  the  bell.  Everyone  shouted  that  Jung 
Pershaud  was  coming.  The  hunted  elephant  paused  in  his 
ablutions,  turned  about,  and,  pushing  the  foliage  aside  with 


1 66     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

his  trunk,  gazed  in  the  direction  of  the  warning  note.  Then 
emerged  into  view  the  vast  head  of  Jung  Pershaud,  painted 
scarlet.  He  moved  steadily  and  directly  upon  his  quarry, 
who  lowered  his  head,  presenting  his  long  sharp  tusk.  The 
tusks  of  Jung  Pershaud  were  four  to  five  feet  long  and 
ringed  with  brass. 

Jung  swung  his  trunk  and  dealt  the  hunted  elephant  a 
blow  on  the  head,  then  charged  him  in  the  flank  with  a 
resounding  impact,  drew  back  and  charged  the  reeling  beast 
from  behind.  The  hunted  elephant  took  to  flight,  pursued 
by  Jung  Pershaud,  heading  straight  for  the  place  where  I 
was  watching  the  combat  among  the  pads  and  smaller 
fighting  elephants.  These  turned  and  fled  in  terror. 

The  hunted  elephant  plunged  into  the  wood,  ploughing 
his  way  through  the  undergrowth,  leaving  Jung  Pershaud 
behind  him.  Sir  Jung  Bahadur,  following  with  the  Prince 
and  the  rest  of  the  party,  adjured  us  to  keep  out  of  the  way 
of  the  fleeing  beast  while  keeping  him  in  sight.  The  quarry 
checked  at  an  opening  in  the  forest  and  remained  in  the 
shelter  of  the  trees,  while  the  Prince,  with  Sir  Jung  Bahadur 
and  Dr.  Russell,  rode  across  a  stream  into  the  open  space. 
Sir  Jung  Bahadur  sat  on  his  horse  and  cursed  the  elephant ; 
who,  after  hearkening  attentively  for  a  few  minutes,  suddenly 
charged  the  horsemen. 

At  the  same  instant,  the  second  fighting  elephant,  Bijli 
Pershaud,  burst  out  of  the  jungle,  and  the  two  animals  met 
forehead  to  forehead  with  a  crash.  Bijli  Pershaud  drew  off 
and  charged  again,  striking  the  hunted  elephant  on  the 
shoulder,  and  running  beside  him,  charged  him  heavily 
again  and  again,  until  the  poor  driven  beast  dropped  his 
trunk  and  uttered  a  pitiable  cry.  He  was  beaten  at  last. 

As  we  came  up,  it  was  discovered  that  the  elephant  was 
blind  of  one  eye;  everyone  commiserated  the  defeated 
gladiator;  and  Sir  Jung  Bahadur  offered  to  let  him  go 
free  should  the  Prince  so  desire. 

The  Prince  having  accepted  the  suggestion,  the  elephant 
was  led  captive  away  and  was  secured  with  thick  ropes  to  a 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  167 

tree.  He  bent  his  vast  strength  to  a  last  effort  to  escape,  so 
that  the  tree  creaked  and  shook  under  the  strain.  He  cried 
aloud  in  despair,  and  then  stood  silent,  refusing  all  food. 

They  set  him  free  upon  the  following  day,  having  sawn 
off  his  great  tusk ;  which  was  presented  by  Sir  Jung  Bahadur 
to  the  Prince. 

A  few  days  before  the  great  hunt  took  place  in  Nepal, 
Sir  Jung  Bahadur's  regiment  of  elephants  paraded  before 
the  Prince.  They  numbered  more  than  700,  and  were 
drilled  to  manoeuvre  in  companies  to  the  sound  of  the 
bugle.  After  the  hunt,  the  Prince  reviewed  Sir  Jung's 
army:  a  corps  which,  as  the  message  from  the  Queen 
delivered  by  the  Prince  recalled  in  gracious  terms,  had 
tendered  valuable  help  to  the  British  arms  upon  an 
important  occasion.  The  total  strength  of  the  army  was 
114,000  infantry  and  420  guns.  The  infantry,  in  addition 
to  rifle  and  bayonet,  carried  the  kukri,  or  curved  knife,  the 
national  weapon.  We  witnessed  an  exhibition  of  its  use 
by  the  soldiers,  who  vied  with  one  another  in  cutting,  with 
a  single  action,  slices  of  soft  wood  from  a  baulk,  the  cut 
making  a  diagonal  section.  More  by  good  luck  than  by 
merit,  I  succeeded  in  cutting  the  widest  section ;  and 
perceiving  it  to  be  extremely  improbable  that  I  could 
repeat  the  performance,  I  refused  the  invitation  to  try 
again.  Sir  Jung  Bahadur  presented  me  with  the  kukri  I 
had  used.  I  have  the  weapon  now. 

With  this  weapon,  I  slew  a  boa-constrictor.  Riding  an 
elephant  after  tiger,  on  which  occasion  shooting  at  any  other 
game  was  forbidden,  I  saw  a  boa-constrictor,  and  dismounted. 
The  great  snake  was  lying  asleep,  coiled  in  a  hole  in  the 
ground  and  half  hidden  in  foliage.  Selecting  a  narrowing 
coil,  I  cut  nearly  through  it.  The  snake  darted  at  me,  and 
I  finished  it  with  a  stick.  Although  it  was  dead,  its  body 
continued  to  writhe  until  sunset.  For  a  long  time  I  kept 
the  skin,  but  unfortunately  it  decomposed. 

My  brother  Lord  William  and  I  were  out  pig-sticking, 
and  were  riding  after  a  boar.  I  got  first  spear,  when  the 


1 68     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

boar  knocked  both  me  and  my  horse  clean  over.  The  boar 
went  on,  then  turned,  and  as  I  was  in  the  act  of  getting  up, 
came  right  at  me.  Remembering  what  an  old  pig-sticker, 
Archie  Hill,  had  told  me  a  man  should  do  if  he  were  bowled 
over  and  a  boar  attacked  him,  I  rolled  over  on  my  face, 
presenting  my  least  vital  aspect  to  the  enemy.  But  my 
brother,  cleverly  turning  his  horse,  killed  the  boar  within 
a  few  feet  of  me.  The  beast's  head  is  preserved  at 
Curraghmore. 

During  the  whole  time  of  the  Prince's  stay  in  India,  one 
of  his  suite,  the  members  of  which  took  it  in  turns  to  dis- 
charge the  duty,  remained  on  guard  over  his  person  at  night. 
I  have  in  my  possession  the  pair  of  pistols  with  which  the 
gentleman  on  watch  was  armed. 

On  loth  January,  1876,  the  Prince  visited  the  Cawnpore 
Memorial.  "There  was  deep  silence,"  writes  Dr.  Russell, 
"  as  the  Prince  read  in  a  low  voice  the  touching  words,  '  To 
the  memory  of  a  great  company  of  Christian  people,  princi- 
pally women  and  children,  who  were  cruelly  slaughtered 
here ' — the  name  of  the  great  criminal  and  the  date  of  the 
massacre  are  cut  round  the  base  of  the  statue.  No  two 
persons  agree  as  to  the  expression  of  Marochetti's  Angel 
which  stands  over  the  Well.  Is  it  pain? — pity? — resigna- 
tion ? — vengeance  ? — or  triumph  ?  "  Perhaps  my  aunt,  Lady 
Waterford,  could  have  enlightened  the  learned  doctor ;  for 
she  it  was  who  designed  the  monument,  which  was  carried 
into  execution  by  Marochetti. 

A  certain  officer  in  high  command  was  extremely 
agitated  concerning  the  exact  degree  of  precedence  due  to 
him — or  rather,  to  the  Service  to  which  he  belonged  ;  a 
matter  not  easy  to  settle  amid  the  throng  of  British 
dignitaries  and  Indian  potentates.  The  officer  chafed  sorely 
at  the  delay ;  nor  was  he  soothed  by  the  injurious  remarks 
of  a  junior  member  of  the  suite,  who  dealt  with  his  dignity 
in  a  spirit  of  deplorable  frivolity.  At  last,  however,  the 
junior  member  approached  him  with  the  aspect  of  sym- 
pathetic gravity  proper  to  the  occasion. 


WITH  THE  PRINCE  IN  INDIA  169 

"  I  congratulate  you,  sir.  That  matter  of  your  order  of 
precedence  has  been  settled  at  last." 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  it — very  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  the 
officer.  "  The  delay  has  been  simply  scandalous.  What  is 
to  be  my  position  ?  " 

The  junior  member  appeared  to  reflect. 

"  Oh,  of  course,"  he  said,  at  length.  "  Now  I  remember. 
Your  place,  sir,  is  between  the  Ram  of  (something)  and  the 
Jam  of  (something  else) ! " 

The  distinguished  officer :"...!!!" 

On  3<Dth  November,  1875,  while  the  Serapis  was  on  her 
way  from  Bombay  to  Colombo,  the  Prince  kindly  presided 
at  a  dinner  given  in  honour  of  my  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
commander.  In  a  letter  written  to  me  by  his  Royal 
Highness  some  years  afterwards,  he  recalls  that  festivity, 
with  a  note  of  regret  that  those  jolly  days  were  gone.  Three 
years  afterwards,  upon  the  occasion  of  my  marriage,  the 
suite  presented  me  with  a  most  beautiful  silver  bowl,  which 
remains  one  of  my  most  highly  prized  possessions. 

There  were  many  Babu  poems  composed  to  celebrate 
the  Prince's  prowess  as  a  hunter.  Among  them,  I  remember 
the  following : — 

"  Beautifully  he  will  shoot 

Many  a  royal  tiger  brute  ; 
Laying  on  their  backs  they  die, 
Shot  in  the  apple  of  the  eye." 

Seven  years  afterwards,  I  visited  India  again.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  in  the  interval  the  relations  between  the  Indian 
and  the  Englishman  had  changed  for  the  better ;  in  that  the 
natives  were  less  afraid  of  the  white  man,  and  that  a 
better  feeling  had  grown  up  between  East  and  West.  The 
principle  upon  which  India  is  governed  is  the  principle  of 
establishing  justice  and  humanity.  India  is  governed  by 
the  sword ;  but  the  sword  is  sheathed. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   EGYPTIAN  WAR 

I.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  TROUBLE 

NOTE 

THE   story  of  the   Egyptian  war   may  conveniently 
begin   with    an    account   of    the    affair   of   the    9th 
September,   1881,  when  Tewfik,   Khedive  of  Egypt, 
met  Arabi  Pasha  face  to  face  in  the  Square  of  Abdin  at 
Cairo,  and  failed  to  take  advantage  of  the  greatest  oppor- 
tunity of  his  life.     Had  he  acted  there  and  then  upon  the 
counsel  of  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Auckland   Colvin,  British 
Controller,  it  is  possible  that  the  Egyptian  war  might  have 
been  avoided. 

The  beginning  of  the  trouble  was  the  jealousy  existing 
between  the  native  Egyptian  and  the  Turkish,  or  Circassian, 
elements  of  the  army.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  the  Egyptian, 
or  fellah,  officers  believed  themselves  to  be  slighted.  The 
Turkish,  or  Circassian,  officers,  being  of  the  same  race  as  the 
ruling  family,  regarded  themselves  as  the  dominant  caste. 
In  the  time  of  Ismail  Pasha,  the  predecessor  of  Tewfik,  the 
Minister  of  War,  Osman  Pasha  Rifki,  a  Circassian,  perceived 
that  his  dignity  was  compromised  by  his  being  obliged  to 
receive  orders  from  the  Khedive  through  Ali  Fehmi,  captain 
of  the  Guards  at  the  Palace,  a  fellah.  In  the  East,  such  a 
situation  does  not  continue.  Ali  Fehmi  mysteriously  fell 
into  disgrace.  Naturally,  he  had  a  grievance;  and  he 
joined  himself  to  two  other  officers  of  his  race,  who  also  had 


170 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  171 

grievances.  These  were  Abdel-el-Al  and  Ahmed  Arabi, 
who  was  to  become  better  known  as  Arabi  Pasha.  They 
were  called  the  "Three  Colonels,"  and  to  them  came 
Mahmoud  Sami  Pasha,  an  exceedingly  astute  politician. 

Arabi's  particular  injury  was  that  he  had  been  punished 
by  Ismail  for  creating  a  disturbance  under  the  Palace 
windows,  when  he  was  one  of  the  officers  of  the  guard. 
Ismail  had  bluntly  remarked  that  Arabi  was  more  noisy  but 
less  useful  than  the  big  drum.  Arabi  joined  a  secret  society 
of  discontented  officers,  and  shortly  afterwards  again  fell  into 
trouble  under  a  charge  of  corruption  while  he  was  in  com- 
mand of  transports  during  the  war  between  Egypt  and 
Abyssinia.  Subsequently,  Ismail  allowed  Arabi  to  join  a 
regiment,  whereupon  he  became  chief  of  the  secret  society. 
One  of  its  members  divulged  the  secret  to  the  Khedive,  who 
adopted  the  Oriental  method  of  buying  the  allegiance  of 
the  disaffected  officers  by  promoting  in  one  day  seventy  of 
them  to  be  lieutenant-colonels.  He  also  presented  one  of 
his  slaves  to  Arabi  to  wife. 

So  much  for  Ismail  Pasha.  When,  by  order  of  the 
Sultan,  he  was  superseded  by  Tewfik,  Arabi  made  haste  to 
do  obeisance  to  the  new  Khedive,  who  made  him  a  full 
colonel.  But  when  Tewfik  reduced  the  army,  the  Three 
Colonels  presented  a  petition  to  the  Khedive,  demanding, 
among  other  matters,  that  an  Egyptian  should  be  made 
Minister  of  War  in  place  of  Osman  Rifki.  The  Three 
Colonels  were  thereupon  arrested.  Mahmoud  Sami  Pasha, 
a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  secretly  arranged  that  when  they 
were  brought  before  the  Court-martial,  the  soldiers  should 
rescue  them.  On  the  1st  February,  1881,  accordingly,  the 
soldiers  burst  into  the  court,  turned  it  inside  out,  and  carried 
the  Three  Colonels  to  the  Palace.  The  Khedive,  confronted 
with  physical  force  to  which  he  had  nothing  to  oppose,  con- 
sented to  supersede  his  War  Minister  in  favour  of  the  crafty 
Mahmoud  Sami,  to  increase  the  army  by  18,000  men,  and 
to  abolish  favouritism. 

The  Khedive  very  soon  discovered  that  Mahmoud  Sami 


172     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

was  by  no  means  a  desirable  Minister  of  War,  and  also  that 
the  Three  Colonels  and  their  friends  continued  to  stir  up 
trouble.  He  therefore  dismissed  Mahmoud  Sami  and 
appointed  in  his  stead  the  Khedive's  brother-in-law,  Daoud 
Pasha,  a  Circassian,  and  ordered  the  disaffected  regiments 
to  leave  Cairo.  At  the  same  time  it  was  rumoured  that  the 
Khedive  had  obtained  a  secret  decree  from  the  Sultan  con- 
demning Arabi  and  his  friends  to  death.  When  the  order 
to  remove  his  regiment  from  Cairo  was  received  by  Arabi, 
that  leader  of  revolt  informed  the  Minister  of  War  on  gth 
September,  1881,  that  the  troops  in  Cairo  would  proceed  the 
same  afternoon  to  the  Palace  of  Abdin,  there  to  demand  of 
the  Khedive  the  dismissal  of  the  Ministry,  the  convocation 
of  the  National  Assembly,  and  the  increase  of  the  army. 
Then  came  Tewfik's  opportunity,  which,  as  already  observed, 
he  let  slip. 

When  the  Khedive  entered  the  Square,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Colvin,  British  Controller,  and  a  few  native  and  European 
officers,  he  was  confronted  with  some  4000  soldiers  and 
thirty  guns.  The  following  account  of  the  critical  moment 
is  given  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Royle,  in  his  excellent  history 
of  The  Egyptian  Campaigns  (London,  1900). 

"  The  Khedive  advanced  firmly  towards  a  little  group  of 
officers  and  men  (some  of  whom  were  mounted)  in  the 
centre.  Colvin  said  to  him, '  When  Arabi  presents  himself, 
tell  him  to  give  up  his  sword  and  follow  you.  Then  go  the 
round  of  the  regiments,  address  each  separately,  and  give 
them  the  "  order  to  disperse." '  The  soldiers  all  this  time 
were  standing  in  easy  attitudes,  chatting,  laughing,  rolling 
up  cigarettes,  and  eating  pistachio  nuts,  looking,  in  fact,  as 
little  like  desperate  mutineers  as  could  well  be  imagined. 
They  apparently  were  there  in  obedience  only  to  orders, 
and,  without  being  either  loyal  or  disloyal,  might  almost  be 
regarded  as  disinterested  spectators. 

"Arabi  approached  on  horseback:  the  Khedive  called 
out  to  him  to  dismount.  He  did  so,  and  came  forward  on 
foot  with  several  others,  and  a  guard  with  fixed  bayonets, 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  173 

and  saluted.  As  he  advanced,  Colvin  said  to  the  Khedive, 
'  Now  is  the  moment,  give  the  word.'  He  replied,  '  We  are 
between  four  fires.  We  shall  be  killed.'  Colvin  said,  '  Have 
courage.'  Tewfik  again  wavered,  he  turned  for  counsel  to 
a  native  officer  at  his  side,  and  repeated,  '  What  can  I  do  ? 
We  are  between  four  fires.'  He  then  told  Arabi  to  sheathe 
his  sword.  Arabi  did  so  at  once,  his  hand  trembling  so  with 
nervousness  that  he  could  scarcely  get  the  weapon  back  into 
its  scabbard.  The  moment  was  lost.  Instead  of  following 
Colvin's  advice,  and  arresting  Arabi  on  the  spot,  a  step 
which  would  have  at  once  put  an  end  to  the  whole  disturb- 
ance, the  Khedive  walked  towards  him  and  commenced  to 
parley." 

The  Khedive  subsequently  agreed  to  dismiss  the  Ministry 
at  Arabi's  request;  and  Arabi  thus  advanced  another  step 
towards  obtaining  military  control  of  the  country.  For  a 
time  he  prevented  Cherif  Pasha  from  forming  a  Ministry, 
and  summoned  to  Cairo  the  Chamber  of  Notables.  The 
members  of  the  Chamber,  however,  whose  office  was  purely 
advisory,  supported  Cherif  Pasha.  By  means  of  a  skilful 
intrigue,  Mahmoud  Sami  contrived  to  obtain  the  appointment 
of  Minister  of  War.  Arabi  then  effected  a  temporary  retreat 
with  his  regiment  to  El  Ouady,  in  the  Delta,  and  waited 
upon  events.  It  was  then  October.  The  Khedive  had 
convoked  an  assembly  of  the  Chamber  of  Notables  at  the 
end  of  December,  and  in  the  meantime  the  elections  were 
proceeding. 

It  should  here  be  observed  that  Arabi  did  not  merely 
represent  discontent  in  the  army.  He  had  behind  him  a 
genuine  and  largely  just  popular  agitation,  the  result  of 
many  evils  suffered  by  the  natives.  "  Ismail's  merciless 
exactions,  and  the  pressure  of  foreign  moneylenders,  had 
given  rise  to  a  desire  to  limit  the  power  of  the  Khedive,  and, 
above  all,  to  abolish  the  Anglo-French  control,  which  was 
considered  as  ruling  the  country  simply  for  the  benefit  of 
the  foreign  bondholders.  The  control  was  further  hated  by 
the  large  landholders,  because  the  law  of  liquidation  (with 


174     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

which  the  Controllers  in  the  minds  of  the  people  were 
associated)  had  in  a  measure  sacrificed  their  claims  for 
compensation  in  respect  of  the  cancelling  of  a  forced  loan 
known  as  the  '  Moukabaleh,'  and  it  was  still  more  detested 
by  the  Pashas  and  native  officials,  because  it  interfered  with 
the  reckless  squandering  of  public  money,  and  the  many 
opportunities  for  corruption  by  which  they  had  so  long  been 
benefited.  In  addition  to  this,  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
irritation  at  the  increasing  number  of  highly  paid  European 
officials  which  the  reformed  administration  inaugurated  in 
the  latter  days  of  Ismail  involved.  The  people  began  to 
suspect  that  what  was  occurring  was  only  part  of  a  plan  for 
handing  the  country  over  to  Europeans.  The  examples 
lately  set  by  England  with  regard  to  Cyprus,  and  by  France 
in  Tunis,  were,  it  must  be  owned,  but  little  calculated  to 
inspire  confidence  in  the  political  morality  of  either  of  these 
two  Powers  "  (Royle.  The  Egyptian  Campaigns). 

In  these  things  consisted  the  reserve  strength  of  Arabi ; 
and  while  he  was  ostensibly  in  retirement  at  El  Ouady 
(probably  spending  a  good  deal  of  time  in  Cairo  with  his 
fellow-conspirators),  the  native  press  continued  to  excite 
irritation  against  the  Europeans ;  and  when  the  new  Chamber 
of  Notables  assembled  on  2$th  December,  1881,  they  at  once 
presented  demands  which  brought  the  whole  situation  in 
Egypt  to  the  notice  of  Europe.  The  Chamber  demanded 
control  of  the  revenues  outside  those  assigned  to  the  Public 
Debt,  together  with  other  new  powers  directly  infringing 
the  prerogatives  of  the  Sultan  and  of  the  Khedive.  It  seems 
that  Mahmoud  Sami  inspired  these  manifestations,  not  with 
any  hope  or  desire  that  the  demands  of  the  Chamber  would 
be  granted,  but  because,  as  they  were  inadmissible,  the 
Ministry  of  Cherif  Pasha  would  be  wrecked,  and  Mahmoud 
Sami  thereby  advantaged. 

The  British  and  French  Governments  declared  that  the 
demands  of  the  Chamber  were  unacceptable.  At  the  same 
time  they  learned  that  the  coast  fortifications  were  being 
strengthened  and  that  the  army  was  to  be  increased.  On 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  175 

behalf  of  the  two  Powers,  a  Joint  Note  was  presented 
to  the  Khedive  in  Cairo,  on  8th  January,  1882,  stating 
that  England  and  France  were  united  in  opposing  "the 
dangers  to  which  the  Government  of  the  Khedive  might 
be  exposed." 

The  presentation  of  the  Joint  Note  marks  the  beginning 
of  that  European  intervention  which  might  have  prevented, 
but  which  did  not  prevent,  the  massacre  in  Alexandria  of 
the  nth  June,  1882,  and  which  eventually  resulted  in  the 
bombardment  of  that  city  on  nth  July,  1882.  The  jealousy 
existing  between  France  and  England  at  that  time  in  respect  of 
intervention  in  Egypt,  nullified  the  effective  action  of  either 
party.  Had  M.  Gambetta  continued  in  power,  he  would 
probably  have  forced  Lord  Granville  to  adopt  a  decisive 
policy.  But  M.  de  Freycinet,  who  succeeded  Gambetta  while 
the  question  was  still  under  discussion,  was  as  much  afraid 
of  responsibility  as  Lord  Granville  was.  Diplomacy  thus 
returned  to  its  customary  routine  of  addressing  Circular 
Notes  to  the  European  Powers,  and  generally  avoiding 
definition  as  long  as  possible.  Arabi  seized  his  opportunity 
and  announced  that  intervention  on  the  part  of  England 
and  France  was  inadmissible.  The  Chamber  of  Notables 
also  saw  their  chance,  and  demanded  the  dismissal  of  the 
Ministry.  The  Khedive,  apparently  deserted  by  England 
and  France,  and  much  afraid  of  offending  the  Sultan,  had  no 
choice  but  to  dismiss  Cherif  Pasha  and  to  appoint  in  his 
stead  Mahmoud  Sami,  who  thus  attained  his  object. 
Mahmoud  Sami  immediately  appointed  Arabi  Pasha 
Minister  of  War.  Arabi  thus  achieved  a  military  dictator- 
ship. It  will  be  observed  that  his  success  was  directly  due 
to  the  vacillation  of  the  English  and  French  Governments. 
Mahmoud  Sami  at  once  forced  the  Khedive  to  assent  to  the 
demands  of  the  Chamber,  and  the  English  and  French 
Controllers  resigned,  upon  the  ground  that  "  the  Khedive's 
power  no  longer  exists." 

The  dictators,  Mahmoud  Sami  and  Arabi  (now  Arabi 
Pasha),  strengthened  the  coast  fortifications,  ordered  ninety 


176     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

guns  of  Herr  Krupp,  and  rapidly  increased  the  army. 
Then  the  dictators,  considering  that  the  hour  of  their 
vengeance  had  arrived,  arrested  fifty  of  the  hated  Circassian 
officers,  (it  is  said)  tortured  them,  and  sentenced  forty  of  them 
to  perpetual  exile.  The  Khedive  refused  to  sign  the  Decree ; 
whereupon  Mahmoud  Sami  threatened  that  his  refusal  would 
be  followed  by  a  general  massacre  of  foreigners.  A  month 
later,  on  nth  June,  such  a  massacre  occurred.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  open  quarrel  between  the  Khedive  on  the  one  side, 
and  his  Ministers,  backed  by  the  army,  on  the  other,  created 
general  alarm.  Mahmoud  Sami  convoked  the  Chamber ; 
only  to  discover  that  the  Notables  were  afraid  to  support 
him.  Under  these  circumstances,  Mahmoud  Sami  and 
Arabi  Pasha  informed  the  Khedive  that,  on  condition  that 
he  would  guarantee  the  maintenance  of  public  order,  they 
would  resign.  The  Khedive  replied  in  effect  that  it  was  not 
he  but  Arabi  that  troubled  Israel.  On  the  next  day,  i5th 
May,  1882,  the  English  and  French  Consuls-General  warned 
Arabi  that  in  the  event  of  disturbance,  England,  France 
and  Turkey  would  deal  with  him.  Arabi  retorted  that  if 
a  Fleet  arrived,  he  could  not  be  responsible  for  the  safety 
of  the  public.  Upon  the  same  day  the  Consul -General 
informed  the  Khedive  that  an  Anglo-French  Fleet  was 
on  its  way  to  Alexandria,  whereupon  Mahmoud  Sami  and 
the  rest  of  the  Ministry  made  a  formal  submission  to  the 
Khedive. 

Such  was  the  first  influence,  exerted  from  afar,  of  naval 
power.  But  when,  upon  the  ipth  and  2oth  May,  the  ships 
arrived  at  Alexandria,  the  effect  was  considerably  lessened ; 
for  the  force  consisted  of  no  more  than  one  British  line-of- 
battle  ship,  H.M.S.  Invincible,  with  two  gunboats,  and 
one  French  line-of-battle  ship,  La  Gallisoniere,  with  two 
gunboats.  The  object  of  the  Granville-Freycinet  diplomacy, 
to  do  something  and  yet  not  to  do  it,  had  thus  been 
triumphantly  achieved. 

The  instructions  given  to  the  British  and  French 
admirals  respectively  are  worth  noting. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  177 

The  British  admiral  was  told  to : 

"  Communicate  with  the  British  Consul-General  on 
arrival  at  Alexandria,  and  in  concert  with  him  propose  to 
co-operate  with  naval  forces  of  France  to  support  the 
Khedive  and  protect  British  subjects  and  Europeans,  land- 
ing a  force,  if  required,  for  latter  object,  such  force  not 
to  leave  protection  of  ships'  guns  without  instructions  from 
home." 

It  will  be  observed  that  Admiral  Sir  Frederick  Beauchamp 
Seymour  was  not  given  enough  men  to  form  an  efficient 
landing  party;  so  that  the  futile  clause  concerning  "the 
protection  of  the  ships'  guns  "  is  hardly  worth  considering. 

The  French  instructions  were  at  least  logical.  The 
French  admiral  was  plainly  told  to  do  nothing  except  in 
an  emergency. 

"On  arrival  at  Alexandria  communicate  with  the 
Consul-General,  who  will,  if  necessary,  indicate  to  you  what 
you  will  have  to  do  to  give  a  moral  support  to  the  Khedive. 
You  will  abstain,  until  you  have  contrary  instructions,  from 
any  material  act  of  war,  unless  you  are  attacked  or  have  to 
protect  the  safety  of  Europeans." 

Acting  on  the  advice  of  the  Consuls-General,  the  Khedive 
endeavoured  to  induce  Mahmoud  Sami  and  Arabi  to 
resign.  The  dictators  refused.  The  Consuls-General  there- 
upon presented  them  with  an  ultimatum,  and  the  Ministry 
resigned ;  but  the  Khedive  was  subsequently  compelled  by 
the  threats  of  the  army  and  the  prayers  of  the  terrified 
notables  to  reinstate  Arabi  Pasha.  That  leader  at  once 
published  a  proclamation  stating  that  he  guaranteed  the 
public  safety,  which  failed,  however,  to  allay  the  public 
fears.  On  29th  May  the  European  population  of 
Alexandria  drew  up  a  memorial,  which  was  telegraphed  to 
the  Foreign  Office,  stating  that  they  were  placed  in  extreme 
peril,  against  which  the  force  at  the  disposal  of  the  British 
admiral  was  totally  inadequate. 

Upon  the  same  day,  Admiral  Seymour  reported  that 
earthworks  were  being  raised  on  shore,  and  asked  for 
VOL.  i. — 12 


i;8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

reinforcements.  On  3<Dth  May  another  line-of-battle  ship 
arrived,  with  two  gunboats,  and  three  French  warships. 
The  rest  of  the  British  squadron  in  the  Mediterranean  were 
directed  to  cruise  within  touch  of  the  admiral. 

On  the  7th  June  an  Imperial  Commissioner,  Dervish 
Pasha,  dispatched  by  the  Sultan,  arrived  at  Cairo.  He  was 
instructed  to  play  a  double  part,  the  object  of  his  mission 
being  to  counteract  European  influence.  It  was  a  com- 
plicated intrigue ;  but  it  is  not  worth  unravelling,  because 
Dervish  Pasha  presently  discovered  that  the  ruler  of  Egypt 
was  Arabi  Pasha. 

Such  is  a  summary  of  events  up  to  the  eve  of  the  riots  in 
Alexandria.  At  that  moment,  Arabi  Pasha  was  military 
dictator ;  backed  by  the  army  and  supported  by  popular 
sentiment :  the  Khedive,  still  nominally  ruler,  was  deprived 
of  power  and  went  in  peril  of  his  life ;  the  Sultan,  his  over- 
lord, whose  dominant  motive  was  the  desire  to  avoid  foreign 
intervention  in  Egypt,  wrapped  himself  in  diplomatic 
ambiguity  ;  England  and  France,  the  only  interested  foreign 
Powers,  each  afraid  of  the  other  and  both  afraid  of  incurring 
responsibility,  were  in  a  state  of  miserable  vacillation,  for 
which  (as  usual)  many  helpless  and  innocent  persons  paid 
with  their  lives  and  property.  In  these  circumstances,  the 
advantage  lay  with  the  man  who  knew  his  own  mind. 
That  man  was  Arabi  Pasha. 

It  seemed  that  nothing  could  better  serve  his  ends  than 
an  organised  massacre  of  Europeans  by  the  populace,  during 
which  the  police  and  the  army  should  remain  passive ;  for 
nothing  could  more  effectually  demonstrate  the  power  of 
the  dictator,  bring  the  Khedive  into  contempt,  flout  the 
foreign  Powers  which  had  exhibited  so  contemptible  a 
weakness,  and  delight  the  populace. 

Accordingly,  on  Sunday,  nth  June,  1882,  a  devastating 
riot  broke  out  in  Alexandria.  The  natives  had  been  armed 
beforehand  with  naboots,  or  long  sticks ;  the  mustaphazin, 
or  military  police,  joined  in  the  attack ;  the  soldiers  remained 
immobile  until  Arabi  telegraphed  his  orders  from  Cairo, 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  179 

when  they  at  once  stopped  the  disturbance.  During  the 
day,  men,  women  and  children,  European  and  native,  were 
shot,  beaten,  and  murdered,  and  the  town  was  looted.  The 
loss  of  life  was  estimated  at  1 50  persons. 

In  the  evening  the  troops  restored  order,  and  subsequently 
maintained  it  up  to  the  day  of  the  bombardment  During 
that  period,  large  numbers  of  persons  left  the  city.  Refugees 
of  all  nations  were  embarked  in  the  harbour. 

Lord  Salisbury,  who  was  then  in  Opposition,  trenchantly 
exposed  the  true  character  of  a  policy  whose  direct  result 
was  that  British  subjects  were  "  butchered  under  the  very 
guns  of  the  Fleet,  which  had  never  budged  an  inch  to  save 
them."  The  Government  had  not  given  the  admiral  an 
adequate  force.  It  was  the  old  story  of  the  naval  officer 
being  forced  to  subserve  the  ends  of  the  politicians. 

In  England,  public  indignation  forced  the  Government 
to  take  action.  The  Channel  Squadron  was  dispatched  to 
Malta,  there  to  remain  at  Admiral  Seymour's  disposal. 
Two  battalions  were  sent  to  Cyprus. 

Arabi  Pasha  brought  more  troops  to  Alexandria  and 
continued  to  fortify  the  coast  defences.  In  the  meantime 
the  Navy  was  helping  to  embark  the  refugees. 

From  this  point,  the  general  course  of  events  may  con- 
veniently be  related  in  the  form  of  a  diary,  thus  supple- 
menting, for  the  purposes  of  reference,  the  detailed  narrative 
of  Lord  Charles  Beresford. 

On  nth  July  the  British  Fleet  bombarded  the  coast 
forts.  The  warships  of  other  nations  took  no  part  in  the 
action.  The  British  force  consisted  of  fifteen  vessels  and 
5728  men ;  eight  ironclads,  five  gunboats,  a  torpedo  vessel 
and  dispatch  vessel.  The  forts  were  silenced  and  the 
gunners  were  driven  from  their  batteries. 

On  1 2th  July  the  city  was  set  on  fire  by  the  Egyptian 
troops.  These,  accompanied  by  civilians,  looted  the  city 
and  so  departed. 

On  1 3th  July  the  British  admiral  landed  800  men.  It 
will  be  observed  that  had  Admiral  Seymour  been  permitted 


to  land  a  force  upon  the  preceding  day,  he  could  have  dis- 
armed the  Egyptian  troops  and  prevented  the  conflagration. 
The  Khedive  had  taken  refuge  in  his  Palace  at  Ramleh,  and 
the  Condor,  Commander  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  was 
sent  to  lie  off  the  Palace  to  protect  him.  Captain  John 
Fisher,  H.M.S.  Inflexible,  was  ordered  to  take  command  of 
the  landing  party.  Upon  occupying  the  outer  lines,  Captain 
Fisher,  finding  chaos  in  the  town,  in  rear  of  his  position, 
applied  for  an  officer  to  exercise  the  duties  of  provost- 
marshal  and  chief  of  police,  and  suggested  that  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  should  be  appointed. 

On  I4th  July  the  British  force  was  occupying  all  important 
positions. 

On  1 5th  July  Admiral  Dowell,  commanding  the  Channel 
Squadron,  arrived  in  the  Monarch.  Lord  Charles  Beresford 
was  appointed  provost-marshal  and  chief  of  police  to 
restore  order. 

Mr.  John  Ross,  the  British  merchant  in  Alexandria  who 
gave  unsparing  and  generous  assistance  to  the  British  forces, 
— services  for  which  he  has  never  received  recognition — 
writes  to  me  as  follows : — 

"  Lord  Charles  Beresford  saved  millions'  worth  of  property, 
causing  the  indemnity  paid  by  the  European  Government 
to  be  much  less  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  I  can 
assure  you  that  there  was  a  chance  of  the  whole  of  Alexandria 
being  burnt  to  the  ground,  had  it  not  been  for  the  wonder- 
fully prompt,  energetic,  and  scientific  arrangements  made  by 
Lord  Charles  Beresford.  .  .  I  do  not  think  England  can 
ever  be  made  to  know  properly  and  understand  and  appreciate 
enough  with  regard  to  what  Lord  Charles  Beresford  did 
for  his  country  as  well  as  for  Egypt  in  1882." 

On  1 7th  July  1000  Marines  and  1700  soldiers  arrived. 
General  Sir  Archibald  Alison  took  command  of  the  whole 
of  the  land  forces,  now  numbering  in  all,  3686. 

On  the  2Oth  July  the  British  Government  decided  to 
dispatch  an  expedition  to  Egypt. 

On  the  2ist  July  the  water  supply  of  Alexandria  began 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  181 

to  fail,  Arabi  having  dammed  the  flow  from  the  Nile  into 
the  Mahmoudieh  Canal,  and  let  salt  water  into  it  from  Lake 
Mareotis.  Hitherto  the  supply  had  been  maintained  by  the 
gallant  exertions  of  Mr.  T.  E.  Cornish,  manager  of  the  water- 
works. Sir  Archibald  Alison  began  his  attacking  move- 
ments. 

On  the  22nd  July  the  Khedive  dismissed  Arabi  Pasha 
from  his  post  of  Minister  of  War.  Arabi  Pasha  was  now  at 
Kafr  Dowar  with  5000  to  30,000  men.  A  battalion  of 
British  troops  sailed  from  Bombay. 

On  the  24th  July  Mr.  Gladstone  informed  Parliament 
that  the  country  was  "  not  at  war."  On  the  same  day  the 
British  troops  occupied  Ramleh,  a  suburb  of  Alexandria. 

At  this  time  Captain  Fisher  fitted  out  the  armoured 
train. 

On  the  3Oth  July  the  Scots  Guards  sailed  for  Alexandria. 
From  the  beginning  to  end  of  the  war,  there  were  dispatched, 
or  under  orders,  from  Great  Britain  and  Mediterranean 
stations,  1290  officers  and  32,000  men.  Add  the  Indian 
contingent,  170  officers,  7100  men,  consisting  of  ist  Sea- 
forths,  ist  Manchester,  i  Bombay  and  2  Bengal  battalions 
Native  Infantry,  3  regiments  Bengal  Cavalry,  I  field  battery, 
i  mountain  battery,  and  a  section  of  Madras  Sappers  and 
Miners.  Add  to  these,  3500  followers,  1700  horses,  840 
ponies,  5000  mules. 

On  the  ist  August  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  having  in 
the  space  of  a  fortnight  saved  the  town  of  Alexandria  from 
destruction  and  restored  complete  order,  was  relieved  by 
Major  Gordon. 

On  the  2nd  August  Admiral  Sir  William  Hewett,  with 
six  vessels  of  war,  occupied  Suez. 

On  3rd  August  the  National  Council  declared  its  support 
of  Arabi  Pasha. 

On  5th  August  General  Alison  attacked  and  defeated 
the  enemy  on  the  Mahmoudieh  Canal. 

On  the  7th  August  the  Khedive  issued  a  proclamation 
directed  against  Arabi  Pasha  and  rebellion. 


1 82     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

On  the  loth  August  Sir  John  Adye,  chief  of  staff,  with 
the  Duke  of  Connaught,  arrived  at  Alexandria. 

On  the  1 2th  August  the  Brigade  of  Guards,  the  Duke  of 
Connaught  at  their  head,  marched  through  Alexandria  to 
Ramleh,  greatly  impressing  the  populace. 

On  the  1 5th,  General  Commanding-in-Chief  Sir  Garnet 
Wolseley  and  Major-General  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  arrived  at 
Alexandria. 

On  the  1 8th  August  the  greater  part  of  the  troops 
embarked  for  Port  Said,  the  transports  being  escorted  by 
five  ironclads. 

On  the  night  of  the  i9th-2Oth  August  the  Navy  took 
entire  possession  of  the  Suez  Canal.  The  Monarch  and  Iris 
took  Port  Said.  The  Orion,  Northumberland,  Carysfort 
and  Coquette  took  Ismailia.  Admiral  Hewett  had  already 
seized  Suez. 

On  the  2Oth  of  August  the  troops  and  warships  from 
Alexandria  arrived  at  Port  Said,  together  with  Admiral  Sir 
Beauchamp  Seymour  in  the  Helicon.  M.  Ferdinand  de 
Lesseps  had  done  his  utmost  to  prevent  the  seizure  of  the 
Canal,  which,  he  insisted,  was  neutral.  It  is  said  that  when 
the  troops  began  to  disembark  at  Ismailia,  M.  de  Lesseps, 
erect  upon  the  landing-place,  announced  that  "  no  one 
should  land  except  over  his  dead  body  "  ;  to  which  defiance 
a  bluejacket,  gently  urging  aside  the  heroic  engineer, 
replied,  "  We  don't  want  any  dead  bodies  about  here,  sir ; 
all  you've  got  to  do  is  to  step  back  a  bit"  (Royle, 
Egyptian  Campaigns}. 

On  the  2  ist  August  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  arrived  at 
Ismailia  in  the  Salamis,  and,  by  orders  of  the  Khedive, 
issued  a  proclamation  announcing  that  the  sole  object  of 
Her  Majesty's  Government  was  "  to  re-establish  the  authority 
of  the  Khedive." 

The  advance  into  the  Delta  was  begun. 

On  the  24th  August  Wolseley  captured  the  dam  on  the 
Fresh  Water  Canal. 

On  the  25th  August  the  enemy  were  driven  back  upon 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  183 

Tel-el-Kebir.  Mahmoud  Fehmi  Pasha,  one  of  the  original 
"Three  Colonels,"  now  Arabi's  chief  of  staff,  was  captured 
at  Mahsameh  railway  station. 

On  the  28th  August  occurred  the  action  at  Kassassin, 
in  which  the  Egyptians  were  defeated.  Kassassin  was 
occupied.  During  the  next  few  days  men  and  stores  were 
assembled  there. 

On  the  Qth  September  Arabi  attacked  Kassassin  in  force 
and  was  driven  back  to  Tel-el-Kebir.  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley 
made  Kassassin  his  headquarters. 

On  the  1 2th  September  the  army  was  concentrated  at 
Kassassin.  On  that  night  the  troops  advanced  towards 
Tel-el-Kebir. 

On  the  1 3th  September  an  attack  at  dawn  was  made  in 
three  places  upon  the  Egyptian  entrenchments.  The  British 
carried  them  under  a  heavy  fire  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 
The  action  was  decisive.  Arabi's  power  was  broken. 
Arabi  fled  to  Cairo. 

The  6th  Bengal  Cavalry  captured  Zag-a-Zig  the  same 
evening;  and  the  Cavalry  division  occupied  Belbeis. 

On  I4th  August  the  Cavalry  Division  rode  from  Belbeis 
to  Cairo,  starting  at  dawn  and  arriving  at  Abbassieh  at 
4.45  p.m.  The  same  night,  Captain  Watson,  R.E.,  disarmed 
the  troops  in  the  Citadel  and  occupied  Cairo. 

On  the  1 5th  August  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  and  the  Guards 
arrived  at  Cairo,  a  day  before  scheduled  time. 

During  the  next  week,  Kafr  Dowar,  a  place  of  equal 
importance  with  Tel-el-Kebir,  Aboukir,  Rosetta  and 
Damietta,  surrendered. 

From  the  bombardment  of  Alexandria  to  the  capture  of 
Cairo  was  sixty-six  days,  of  which  the  campaign  occupied 
twenty-five  days. 

On  the  25th  September  the  Khedive  returned  to  Cairo, 
where  the  greater  number  of  the  British  troops  assembled. 
Subsequently,  Admiral  Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour  and  Sir 
Garnet  Wolseley  were  created  Peers  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 


1 84     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Arabi  Pasha  was  tried  by  court-martial  on  a  charge  of 
rebellion  against  the  Khedive,  and  was  condemned  to  death, 
the  sentence  being  commuted  to  exile  for  life.  In  December, 
Arabi  and  six  of  his  friends  who  had  been  sentenced  sailed 
for  Ceylon. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE   EGYPTIAN   WAR  (Continued) 
II.  THE  BOMBARDMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA 

MY  appointment  to  H.M.S.  Condor  was  dated  3ist 
December,  1881.     The  Condor  was  a  single-screw 
composite    sloop     gun-vessel    of    780    tons    and 
770  h.p.,   carrying  one  4$-ton   gun   amidships,  one  64-pr. 
forward   and  one  64-pr.  aft,  all    muzzle-loading  guns.     In 
June,  1882,  the  Condor  formed  part  of  the  squadron  lying 
off  Alexandria  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Sir  Beau- 
champ  Seymour. 

On  Sunday,  nth  June,  calling  upon  Captain  Blomfield, 
the  harbour-master,  I  found  him  in  great  distress.  He  had 
heard  that  there  was  trouble  in  the  city,  into  which  his  wife 
had  gone,  and  he  was  extremely  anxious  about  her  safety. 
We  took  a  light  carriage  harnessed  to  a  pair  of  Arab  horses 
and  drove  into  the  town.  Presently  a  great  crowd  came 
running  down  the  street  towards  us.  They  were  mostly 
Greeks,  many  of  whom  were  wounded  and  bleeding.  The 
next  moment  we  were  surrounded  by  a  raging  mob,  armed 
with  naboots,  or  long  sticks,  with  which  they  attacked  us. 
The  street  was  blocked  from  end  to  end ;  and  to  have 
attempted  to  drive  through  the  mob  would  have  been  certain 
death.  I  seized  the  reins,  swung  the  horses  round,  cleared 
the  crowd,  and  drove  back  to  the  harbour-master's  house. 
In  the  meantime  his  wife  had  taken  refuge  in  an  hotel, 
whence  she  safely  returned  later  in  the  day. 

The  officers  and  men  of  the  Fleet  were  ordered  back  to 

185 


1 86     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

their  ships.  I  went  on  board  the  flagship  and  reported  to 
the  admiral  the  condition  of  the  town.  With  the  trifling 
force  at  his  disposal,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  send 
a  landing-party  ashore.  Had  he  done  so,  in  contravention 
of  his  orders,  the  handful  of  British  seamen  and  Marines 
would  have  had  no  chance  against  the  thousands  of  Egyp- 
tian soldiers  who,  under  Arabi's  instructions,  were  waiting 
in  their  barracks  under  arms,  ready  to  turn  out  at  the  first 
attempt  at  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  Fleet. 

During  the  ensuing  month  there  poured  out  of  Alex- 
andria an  immense  number  of  refugees  of  all  nations  and 
every  class  of  society.  These  were  placed  on  board  various 
vessels  and  were  dispatched  to  the  ports  of  their  several 
countries.  I  was  placed  in  charge  of  these  operations ; 
which  included  the  chartering  of  ships,  their  preparation  for 
passengers,  and  the  embarkation  of  the  refugees.-  In  the 
course  of  the  work  there  fell  to  me  a  task  rarely  included 
even  among  the  infinite  variety  of  the  duties  of  a  naval 
officer.  My  working-party  was  stowing  native  refugees  in 
the  hold  of  a  collier,  when  a  coloured  lady  was  taken  ill. 
She  said :  "  Baby  he  come,  sare,  directly,  sare,  myself,  sare." 
And  so  it  was.  We  rigged  up  a  screen,  and  my  coxswain 
and  I  performed  the  office  of  midwives  thus  thrust  upon  us, 
and  all  went  well. 

On  the  loth  July  all  merchant  vessels  and  all  foreign 
men-of-war  left  the  harbour,  and  the  British  Fleet  prepared 
for  action.  Admiral  Seymour's  squadron  consisted  of  fifteen 
vessels:  the  ironclads  Alexandra  (flagship),  Captain  C.  F. 
Hotham ;  Superb,  Captain  T.  Le  Hunte  Ward ;  Sultan, 
Captain  W.  J.  Hunt-Grubbe;  Ttmeraire,  Captain  H.  F. 
Nicholson  ;  Inflexible,  Captain  J.  A.  Fisher ;  Monarch,  Captain 
H.  Fairfax,  C.B. ;  Invincible,  Captain  R.  H.  M.  Molyneux ; 
Penelope,  Captain  S.  J.  C.  D'Arcy-Irvine :  the  torpedo-vessel 
Hecla,  Captain  A.  K.  Wilson ;  gunboats  Condor,  Commander 
Lord  C.  Beresford ;  Bittern,  Commander  Hon.  T.  S.  Brand  ; 
Beacon,  Commander  G.  W.  Hand  ;  Cygnet,  Lieutenant  H.  C.  D. 
Ryder ;  Decoy,  Lieutenant  A.  H.  Boldero ;  and  dispatch  vessel 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  187 

Helicon,  Lieutenant  W.  L.  Morrison.  The  coast  fortifications 
extended  over  a  front  of  rather  more  than  nine  miles,  from 
Fort  Marabout  on  the  south-west  to  Fort  Silsileh  on  the 
north-east.  Midway  between  the  two,  projects  the  forked  spit 
of  land  whose  northern  arm  encircles  the  new  Port,  and  whose 
southern  arm,  extending  in  a  breakwater,  encloses  the  old 
Port.  The  twelve  forts  or  batteries  mounted  in  all  261  guns 
and  mortars. 

The  bombardment  of  Alexandria  has  been  so  thoroughly 
described  in  standard  works  that  repetition  must  be  unneces- 
sary; and  such  interest  as  the  present  narrative  may  contain, 
must  reside  in  the  record  of  personal  experience.  I  may  say 
at  once  that  any  notoriety  attached  to  the  part  borne  by  the 
Condor  in  the  action  was  due  to  accidental  circumstance. 
She  happened  to  fight  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  Fleet  and 
in  full  view  of  the  foreign  warships  and  merchant  vessels; 
and,  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  admiral,  she  had  on 
board  the  correspondent  of  The  Times,  the  late  Mr.  Moberly 
Bell.  The  Condor  was  actually  under  way  when  I  received 
instructions  to  embark  Mr.  Bell.  Mr.  Frederic  Villiers,  the 
artist  war-correspondent,  by  permission  of  the  admiral,  had 
been  my  guest  on  board  for  several  days. 

The  following  account  of  the  action  is  taken  from  a 
private  letter  written  at  the  time : — 

"  The  night  before  the  action,  I  turned  up  all  hands  and 
made  them  a  speech.  I  said  that  the  admiral's  orders  were 
to  keep  out  of  range  until  an  opportunity  occurred.  So  I 
said  to  the  men,  '  Now,  my  lads,  if  you  will  rely  upon  me  to 
find  the  opportunity,  I  will  rely  upon  you  to  make  the  most 
of  it  when  it  occurs.'  .  .  .  The  Marabout  Fort  was  the  second 
largest  fort,  but  a  long  way  off  from  the  places  to  be  attacked 
by  the  ironclads.  So  the  admiral  had  decided  not  to  attack 
it  at  all,  as  he  could  not  spare  one  heavy  ship,  and  of  course 
he  would  not  order  the  small  ships  down  there,  as  it  was 
thought  that  they  would  be  sunk.  The  orders  given  to  the 
small  ships  were  to  keep  out  of  fire,  and  to  watch  for  an 
opportunity  to  occur,  after  the  forts  were  silenced,  to  assist. 


1 88     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Helicon  and  Condor  were  repeating  ships  for  signals.  I  took 
station  just  between  the  two  attacking  fleets. 

"  Just  as  the  action  began  the  Te'me'raire  parted  her  cable 
and  got  ashore.  I  ran  down  to  her  and  towed  her  off, 
and  while  doing  so,  saw  Fort  Marabout  giving  pepper  to 
Monarch,  Invincible  and  Penelope.  Not  one  of  these  ships 
could  be  spared,  as  they  were  getting  it  hot  and  could  not 
spare  a  gun  for  Marabout  from  the  forts  they  were  engaging. 
Seeing  the  difficulty,  directly  I  had  got  the  Thntraire  afloat, 
I  steamed  down  at  full  speed  and  engaged  Fort  Marabout, 
on  the  principle  that  according  to  orders  'an  opportunity' 
had  occurred.  ...  I  thought  we  should  have  a  real  rough 
time  of  it,  as  I  knew  of  the  heavy  guns,  and  I  knew  that 
one  shot  fairly  placed  must  sink  us.  But  I  hoped  to  be  able 
to  dodge  the  shoals,  of  which  there  were  many,  and  get  close 
in,  when  I  was  quite  sure  they  would  fire  over  us.  That  is 
exactly  what  occurred.  I  got  in  close  and  manoeuvred  the 
ship  on  the  angle  of  the  fort,  so  that  the  heavy  guns  could 
hardly  bear  on  me,  if  I  was  very  careful.  The  smooth-bores 
rained  on  us,  but  only  two  shots  hit,  the  rest  went  short  or 
over.  One  heavy  shot  struck  the  water  about  six  feet  from 
the  ship,  wetting  everyone  on  the  upper  deck  with  spray, 
and  bounded  over  us  in  a  ricochet. 

"  I  did  not  fire  on  the  smooth-bores  at  all  until  I  had 
silenced  the  heavy  guns  which  were  annoying  Invincible^ 
Monarch,  and  Penelope.  The  men  fired  splendidly.  I  put 
all  down  to  the  lectures  I  have  given  them  at  target  practice, 
telling  them  never  to  throw  a  shot  away,  but  always  to  wait 
until  they  got  the  sights  on. 

"  Hedworth  Lambton  told  me  afterwards  that  the  admiral 
had  just  sent  on  the  signal  for  the  Monarch  to  go  to  Fort 
Marabout  as  soon  as  she  could  be  spared,  when  he  heard  a 
cheer  from  his  own  men.  He  asked,  '  What's  that  ? '  and 
they  told  him  they  were  cheering  the  Condor.  Just  then  our 
three  guns  were  fired,  and  each  shot  hit  in  the  middle  of  the 
heavy  battery,  and  the  Invincible's  men  burst  into  a  cheer. 
The  admiral  said,  '  Good  God,  she'll  be  sunk ! '  when  off 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  189 

went  our  guns  again,  cheers  rang  out  again  from  the  flagship 
and  the  admiral,  instead  of  making  ' Recall  Condor'  made 
'Well  done,  Condor*  ...  at  the  suggestion  of  Hed worth 
Lambton,  the  flag-lieutenant. 

"  We  then  remained  there  two  and  a  half  hours,  and  had 
silenced  the  fort  all  except  one  gun,  when  the  signal  was 
made  to  all  the  other  small  craft  to  assist  Condor,  and  down 
they  came  and  pegged  away.  I  was  not  sorry,  as  the  men 
were  getting  a  bit  beat.  We  were  then  recalled  to  the 
flagship, '  Captain  repair  on  board,'  and  the  admiral's  ship's 
company  gave  us  three  cheers,  and  he  himself  on  the  quarter- 
deck shook  me  warmly  by  the  hand,  and  told  me  he  was 
extremely  pleased.  ...  I  never  saw  such  pluck  as  the  Egyp- 
tians showed.  We  shelled  them  and  shot  them,  but  still 
they  kept  on  till  only  one  gun  was  left  in  action.  It  was 
splendid.  .  .  .  Nothing  could  have  been  more  clever  than 
the  way  the  admiral  placed  his  ships.  .  .  .  The  wounded 
are  all  doing  well.  One  man  had  his  foot  shot  off,  and  he 
picked  it  up  in  his  hand  and  hopped  down  to  the  doctor 
with  it.  ...  The  troops  hoisted  a  flag  of  truce  the  day  after 
the  action ;  and  while  we  waited  I  sent  to  find  out  why  it 
was  they  were  marched  away,  having  set  fire  to  the  town  in 
many  places.  It  has  been  burning  ever  since."  .  .  . 

The  day  after  the  bombardment,  Captain  Wilson  (now 
Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Sir  A.  K.  Wilson,  V.C.,  G.C.B.,  O.M., 
G.C.V.O)  hauled  down  the  flag  of  the  Marabout  Fort  and 
presented  it  to  me.  It  is  now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Royal 
Naval  College,  Greenwich.  The  commandant  of  Fort  Mara- 
bout was  so  excellent  an  officer  that  when  I  was  appointed 
provost-marshal  and  governor  of  the  town  by  the  admiral, 
I  placed  him  on  my  staff  to  assist  me  in  restoring  order. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE   EGYPTIAN   WAR  (Continued] 
III.  CHIEF  OF  POLICE 

THE  bombardment  took  place  on  the  nth  July.  On 
the  1 2th,  as  I  have  narrated,  the  Egyptian  soldiery 
fired  the  city,  looted  it,  and  evacuated  the  defences. 
On  the  same  day  the  Khedive  was  surrounded  in  his  Palace 
at  Ramleh  by  some  400  of  Arabi's  cavalry  and  infantry,  a 
force  subsequently  reduced  to  about  250  men.  That  evening 
Admiral  Seymour  was  informed  that  the  Khedive  was  in 
danger.  The  admiral  dispatched  the  Condor  to  lie  off 
Ramleh ;  and  there  we  lay  all  that  night,  rolling  heavily,  with 
a  spring  on  the  cable  to  enable  the  guns  to  be  trained  upon 
the  sandy  lane  down  which  the  soldiers  must  advance  if  they 
intended  to  take  the  Palace. 

It  was  arranged  that,  if  the  Palace  were  attacked,  the 
Khedive  should  hang  a  white  sheet  from  a  window,  and  I 
would  at  once  take  measures  to  secure  his  safety.  The  night 
went  by  without  alarm  ;  and  next  day  Tewfik,  escorted  by  a 
guard  of  native  cavalry,  went  to  the  Ras-el-Tin  Palace,  where 
he  was  received  by  Admiral  Seymour  and  a  guard  of 
Marines.  Commander  Hammill  (who  afterwards  performed 
excellent  service  on  the  Nile),  with  a  landing-party  of  250 
bluejackets  and  150  Marines,  had  already  taken  possession 
of  the  Ras-el-Tin  Peninsula. 

Upon  the  same  day  Captain  John  Fisher,  H.M.S. 
Inflexible  (afterwards  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  Lord  Fisher  of 
Kilverstone,  O.M.),  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  the 


190 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  191 

landing-party  whose  business  was  to  secure  the  outer 
defences  of  the  city.  Captain  Fisher,  having  occupied  the 
lines,  had  a  zone  of  anarchy,  incendiarism  and  chaos,  com- 
prising the  whole  city,  in  the  rear  of  his  position.  He  at 
once  made  application  for  an  officer  to  be  appointed  provost- 
marshal  and  chief  of  police,  suggesting  my  name  for  the 
post ;  and  the  admiral  gave  me  orders  to  assume  this  office. 
As  a  narrative  written  at  the  time  owns  a  certain  intrinsic 
interest,  I  make  no  apology  for  transcribing  further  passages 
from  private  letters. 

"CHIEF  OF  POLICE  OFFICE 

HEADQUARTERS,  ALEXANDRIA 

THE  ARSENAL,  2$th  July,  1882 

"...  I  landed  on  the  I4th  July,  armed  myself,  got  a 
horse  and  a  guide  and  an  escort  of  about  thirty  Egyptian 
cavalry,  and  started  to  overhaul  the  town,  and  see  how  I 
could  best  carry  out  my  orders  to  '  restore  law  and  order  ats 
soon  as  possible,  put  out  fires,  bury  the  dead,  and  clear  the 
streets.'  I  never  saw  anything  so  awful  as  the  town  on  that 
Friday ;  streets,  square,  and  blocks  of  buildings  all  on  fire, 
roaring  and  crackling  and  tumbling  about  like  a  hell  let 
loose,  Arabs  murdering  each  other  for  loot  under  my  nose, 
wretches  running  about  with  fire-balls  and  torches  to  light 
up  new  places,  all  the  main  thoroughfares  impassable  from 
burning  fallen  houses,  streets  with  many  corpses  in  them, 
mostly  murdered  by  the  Arab  soldiers  for  loot — these 
corpses  were  Arabs  murdered  by  each  other — in  fact,  a 
pandemonium  of  hell  and  its  devils. 

"  I  took  a  chart  with  me  and  arranged  the  different  parts 
of  the  town  where  I  should  make  depots  and  police  stations. 
The  admiral  could  only  spare  me  60  bluejackets  and  70 
Marines  from  the  British  Fleet ;  but  he  obtained  a  pro- 
portionate number  from  the  foreign  warships.  By  sunset  I 
had  620  men  in  the  different  depots,  mostly  foreigners.  .  .  . 
I  had  only  140  men  to  patrol  the  town,  to  stop  the  looting, 
to  stop  the  '  fresh  burning  '  of  houses,  to  bury  the  corpses, 
and  to  protect  the  lives  of  those  who  had  come  on  shore.  By 


192     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

quickly  sending  the  men  about  in  parties  in  different  parts  of 
the  town,  and  by  employing  Arabs  to  inform  me  when  and 
where  certain  houses  might  be  burnt,  I  often  managed  to  get 
a  patrol  there  just  in  time  to  stop  it,  and  the  people  thought 
there  were  600  police  in  the  town  instead  of  140.  For  the 
foreign  bluejackets  were  ordered  to  occupy  their  respective 
Legations  and  not  to  take  any  part  in  restoring  order.  This 
was  of  course  in  the  first  seventy -two  hours,  during  which  time 
neither  myself  nor  my  men  slept  one  wink,  as  at  12  o'clock  on 
two  occasions  an  alarm  was  sounded  that  Arabi  was  attacking 
the  lines,  and  all  of  us  had  to  peg  away  to  the  front,  where 
we  had  to  remain  until  daylight,  expecting  attack  every 
moment.  These  alarms  lost  many  houses,  as  the  mob  set 
them  alight  while  we  were  at  the  front ;  however,  it  was 
unavoidable. 

"On  Monday,  I7th  July,  I  was  sent  400  more  men  (blue- 
jackets) in  answer  to  my  urgent  appeal  to  the  admiral,  as 
so  many  fanatic  Arabs  were  coming  into  the  town,  .  .  .  but 
on  Tuesday  the  i8th  the  bluejackets  were  all  ordered  off  to 
their  ships  and  600  picked  Marines  were  sent  in  their  place. 
.  .  .  After  I  had  planned  to  get  the  town  into  order  on  the 
Friday  (i4th)  I  went  to  the  Arsenal  and  wrote  a  Pro- 
clamation. .  .  . 

"  I  went  off  to  the  admiral  on  the  following  (Saturday) 
morning,  and  submitted  that  I  should  be  allowed  to  post  the 
Proclamation  throughout  the  town.  Sir  A.  Colvin  and  the 
Khedive  were  strongly  opposed  to  the  Proclamation ;  but  the 
admiral  approved  of  the'  scheme.  Some  of  the  authorities 
suggested  that  if  I  shot  anybody  it  would  be  well  to  shoot 
him  at  night,  or  in  the  prisons,  and  then  no  one  would  know, 
and  there  would  be  no  row.  This  I  stoutly  refused,  demand- 
ing my  own  way  for  restoring  order,  and  saying  that  a  fair 
honest  Proclamation  was  the  proper  line  to  take,  as  all  persons 
would  then  know  what  would  happen  to  them  if  they  com- 
mitted certain  specified  acts.  I  carried  my  point,  and  the 
admiral  supported  me,  and  on  Saturday  night  (iSth)  I  had 
the  whole  town  proclaimed  in  Arabic,  stating  that  persons 


PROVOST-MARSHAL  AND   CHIEF   OF   POLICE.     ALEXANDRIA, 

JULY,  1S82 

FROM    A    DRAWING    HY    FREDERIC   VILLIEKS 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  193 

caught  firing  houses  would  be  shot,  persons  caught  looting 
twice  would  be  shot ;  all  persons  to  return  to  their  homes,  etc., 
with  confidence,  and  anyone  wanting  to  get  information  or  to 
lodge  complaints  to  repair  instantly  to  the  chief  of  police. 

"By  Wednesday  (ipth)  I  had  perfect  order  in  the  town, 
and  all  firing  of  houses  had  been  stopped,  life  was  compara- 
tively safe,  looting  nearly  stopped.  By  Friday  the  2ist,  one 
week  after  taking  charge,  all  the  fires  were  put  out,  all  the 
corpses  buried,  and  things  were  generally  ship-shape.  I 
could  not  have  done  this  unless  the  admiral  had  trusted 
entirely  to  me,  and  given  me  absolute  power  of  life  and  death, 
or  to  flog,  or  to  blow  down  houses,  or  to  do  anything  that  I 
thought  fit  to  restore  law  and  order  and  to  put  the  fires  out. 
I  only  had  to  shoot  five  men  by  drumhead  court-martial 
sentence,  besides  flogging  a  certain  number,  to  effect  what  I 
have  told  you. 

"  I  had  a  clear  thoroughfare  through  every  street  in  the 
town  by  Monday  (24th),  and  all  dtbris  from  fallen  houses 
piled  up  each  side  and  all  dangerous  walls  pulled  down. 
These  things  were  done  by  organising  large  working  parties 
of  from  100  to  200  hired  Arabs.  At  first  I  collected  them 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  and  made  them  work,  but  I  paid 
them  a  good  wage  every  evening,  and  the  bayonets  were 
unnecessary  after  the  first  day,  when  they  found  that  England 
would  pay  well. 

"  I  also  collected  all  the  fire-engines  I  could  find,  bought 
some,  and  requisitioned  others,  got  some  artificers  from  the 
Fleet  and  got  the  engines  in  order,  had  a  bluejacket  fire- 
brigade,  and  also  a  working  party  of  Arabs  on  the  same 
footing  as  the  road  brigade.  These  worked  exclusively  at 
the  fires,  and  not  at  patrolling  unless  at  urgent  necessity. 
Besides  these  I  had  a  sanitary  committee,  which  buried  any 
bodies  we  might  have  missed,  burned  refuse  and  remains 
of  loot  about  the  streets,  and  reburied  any  bodies  which 
might  not  have  been  buried  deep  enough,  besides  enforcing 
cleanliness  directly  the  town  began  to  get  a  little  bit  ship- 
shape. There  was  a  corps  of  native  police  to  work  under 
VOL.  i. — 13 


194     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

my  patrols,  and  when  I  turned  all  the  affairs  over,  I  had 
260  of  these  men. 

"  I  disarmed  all  Europeans  found  in  the  streets  with 
revolvers,  and  by  so  doing  saved  many  a  row  in  the  town, 
as  the  class  I  have  mentioned  returned  in  thousands  after 
the  bombardment,  and  they  treated  the  Arabs  as  if  they, 
the  Europeans,  had  silenced  the  forts  and  policed  the  town. 
I  put  many  in  irons  for  looting,  and  for  shooting  at  inoffen- 
sive Arabs. 

"  The  greatest  triumph  was  the  formation  of  an  Egyptian 
court  to  try  the  serious  cases  I  had  on  hand  for  life  and 
death  and  long  terms  of  imprisonment.  Not  only  did  I 
get  the  court  formed  to  try  what  cases  I  chose  to  bring 
before  it,  but  after  sentence  of  death  I  insisted  on  Egyptian 
authorities  making  the  Egyptian  soldiers  (the  loyal  ones) 
themselves  shooting  the  prisoners  whom  the  court  sen- 
tenced. .  .  . 

"  I  had  four  gallopers  and  four  Marine  orderly  gallopers, 
in  default  of  whom  I  could  not  have  done  things  so  quickly 
in  the  many  different  departments,  nineteen  horses,  and  a 
telephone  to  each  station.  I  paid  all  the  carts  requisitioned 
in  the  town  for  carrying  my  men's  provisions,  loot,  etc.  etc. 
The  officer  using  them  signed  a  chit  stating  the  hour  he  had 
taken  a  cart  and  for  what  service,  and  then  the  man  came  to 
my  office  to  be  paid,  which  he  was  instantly.  By  this  means 
good  feeling  was  established  between  the  people  and  the 
military  police.  Each  depot  had  two  interpreters  attached 
to  it  to  avoid-aay  misunderstanding,  and  for  explanations 
when  trying  prisoners  and  interrogating  witnesses.  .  .  . 

"The  Marine  officer  thoroughly  investigated  each  case, 
examined  all  witnesses,  and  then  placed  the  evidence  on 
a  regular  charge-sheet,  stating  whether  he  believed  the 
prisoner  guilty  or  not  guilty,  and  his  reason  for  that  opinion. 
If  it  was  a  serious  case,  I  again  tried  it  myself  and  judged 
accordingly.  There  were  several  cases  of  blackmailing  at 
first,  but  these  were  soon  stopped.  .  .  . 

"  Besides  the  courts  held  at  the  Police  Depots,  courts  were 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  195 

held  at  the  Tribunal  Zaptieh  and  the  Caracol  1'A'ban,  at 
which  Egyptian  officers  acted  as  judges.  In  each  court  were 
three  shorthand-writers,  each  placed  behind  a  separate  screen, 
and  under  the  charge  of  a  sergeant  of  Marines,  to  prevent 
collusion,  who  submitted  their  reports  to  me,  in  order  that  I 
should  receive  three  independent  accounts  of  the  proceedings, 
upon  which  I  could  intervene  if  necessary,  in  order  to 
prevent  anyone  being  shot  if  there  were  not  the  clearest 
and  most  uncompromising  evidence  of  his  guilt.  If  there 
were  any  discrepancy  in  the  reports,  I  had  the  prisoner  re- 
tried. I  did  this  in  three  cases.  Another  case,  in  which  the 
circumstantial  evidence,  though  very  strong,  was  not  con- 
clusive, I  reprieved." 

The  following  troops  assisted  the  British  forces  in 
restoring  order:  125  Americans,  about  the  American  Con- 
sulate; 30  Germans,  about  the  German  Consulate  and 
Hospital ;  and  140  Greeks  about  the  Greek  Consulate  and 
Hospital.  On  the  i6th  July,  Captain  Briscoe  (a  son  of  an 
old  Waterford  man  who  hunted  the  Curraghmore  hounds 
after  the  death  of  my  uncle,  Henry  Lord  Waterford)  of  the 
P.  and  O.  Tanjore  volunteered  his  services,  and  with  20 
Italians  of  his  crew,  did  excellent  work.  Other  volunteers 
who  assisted  me  were  Mr.  Towrest,  a  member  of  the  Customs, 
and  Mr.  Wallace.  Major  Hemel,  R.M.L.I.,  and  Captain 
Creaghi,  R.M.L.I.,  were  appointed  magistrates.  These 
Marine  officers  performed  invaluable  services. 

I  had  special  reason  to  be  grateful  to  Mr.  John  Ross,  a 
British  merchant  of  Alexandria,  who  gave  me  every  assist- 
ance in  his  power.  He  knew  every  yard  of  the  place.  He 
gave  me  invaluable  advice  with  regard  to  the  organisation  of 
the  city,  obtained  interpreters,  and  helped  to  supply  the 
troops,  placing  his  stores  at  my  disposal.  He  would  have 
dispensed  with  receipts  for  articles  supplied,  had  I  not 
insisted  upon  his  taking  them.  Mr.  Ross  supplied  the  whole 
Fleet  with  coal,  fresh  meat,  and  all  necessaries ;  his  help  was 
quite  inestimable,  his  energy  and  patriotism  beyond  praise ; 


196     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

but  although  he  must  have  suffered  considerable  losses,  he 
received  no  recognition  of  any  kind  from  the  Government 
except  the  naval  medal. 

Mr.  Ross  gave  me  great  assistance  also  in  parcelling  out 
Mehemet  AH  Square  among  the  country  purveyors  of  pro- 
duce, each  of  whom  received  a  permit,  written  in  English 
and  in  Arabic,  to  occupy  a  certain  space,  duly  pegged  out, 
in  which  to  put  up  their  booths.  This  measure  restored 
confidence.  One  old  lady,  a  stout  person  of  Levantine 
origin,  thought  that  the  permit  entitled  her  to  perpetual 
freehold ;  and  she  subsequently  attempted  to  sue  the 
Egyptian  Government  for  damages,  producing  my  permit 
as  evidence. 

Upon  first  going  ashore  to  restore  order,  I  found  whole 
streets  blocked  with  smouldering  ruins.  Putting  my  horse  at 
one  such  obstacle,  I  scrambled  over  it;  and  I  had  scarce 
reached  the  other  side  when  a  wall  fell  bodily  behind  me, 
cutting  off  my  escort,  who  had  to  fetch  a  compass  round  the 
side  streets  to  rejoin  me. 

Without  taking  the  smallest  notice  of  me  or  of  my  escort, 
men  were  shooting  at  one  another,  quarrelling  over  loot,  and 
staggering  along,  laden  with  great  bundles,  like  walking 
balloons.  The  streets  were  speedily  cleared  of  these  rioters 
by  the  use  of  machine  guns.  The  method  adopted  was  to  fire 
the  gun  over  their  heads,  and  as  they  fled,  to  run  the  gun 
round  turnings  and  head  them  off  again,  so  that  they 
received  the  impression  that  the  town  was  full  of  guns.  On 
no  occasion  did  I  fire  the  gun  at  them.  The  principles  upon 
which  order  was  restored  were  to  punish  disobedience,  to 
enlist  labour  and  to  pay  for  it  fairly. 

The  prisoners  taken  were  organised  in  separate  gangs, 
set  to  work,  and  paid  less  than  the  rest  of  the  labourers. 
The  most  critical  part  of  the  business  of  extinguishing  fires 
and  preventing  incendiarism  occurred  at  the  Tribunal,  which 
was  stored  with  property  worth  many  thousands  of  pounds. 
A  fire-engine  was  purchased  for  its  protection  at  a  cost  of 
£160,  1 8s.  id.  The  total  expenses  of  the  restoration  or 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  197 

order  were,  I  think,  under  £2000.  During  the  fortnight  I 
was  on  shore,  every  station  and  port  was  visited  at  least 
once  a  day  and  twice  a  night. 

On  one  such  inspection  I  gave  my  horse  to  an  Arab  lad 
to  hold.  A  few  minutes  afterwards  there  was  the  crack  of  a 
pistol.  I  ran  out,  and  there  was  the  boy  lying  on  the  ground, 
a  bullet-wound  in  his  chest.  To  satisfy  his  curiosity  he  had 
been  fingering  the  4-barrel  Lancaster  pistol  in  the  holster, 
and  that  was  the  end  of  him,  poor  lad. 

Upon  another  occasion,  when  I  was  at  work  in  one  of 
my  stations,  a  sudden  tumult  arose  in  the  street.  I  went 
out,  to  perceive  a  huge  Irish  Marine  Artilleryman  engaged 
in  furious  conflict  with  five  or  six  men  of  the  patrol.  They 
had  got  handcuffs  on  him,  and  he  was  fighting  with 
manacled  hands.  I  asked  the  sergeant  what  was  the 
matter. 

"  He's  drunk,  sir.     We  are  going  to  lock  him  up." 

"  Let  him  go,"  I  said. 

The  men  fell  back;  and  the  Irishman,  seeing  an  iron 
railing,  raised  his  hands  above  his  head  and  brought  them 
down  upon  the  iron,  smashing  the  handcuffs,  and  turned 
upon  me  like  a  wild  beast  at  bay.  The  man  was  in  a  frenzy. 
Standing  directly  in  front  of  him,  I  spoke  to  him  quietly. 

"Now,  my  lad,  listen  to  me.  You're  an  Irishman." 
He  looked  down  at  me.  "  You're  an  Irishman,  and  you've 
had  a  little  too  much  to  drink,  like  many  of  us  at  times. 
But  you  are  all  right.  Think  a  moment.  Irishmen  don't 
behave  like  this  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy.  Nor  will 
you.  Why,  we  may  be  in  a  tight  place  to-morrow,  and 
who's  going  to  back  me  then?  You  are.  You're  worth 
fifty  of  the  enemy.  You're  the  man  I  want." 

As  I  talked  to  him,  the  expression  of  his  face  changed 
from  desperation  to  a  look  of  bewilderment,  and  from 
bewilderment  to  understanding;  and  then  he  suddenly 
broke  down.  He  turned  his  head  aside  and  cried.  I  told 
the  sergeant  to  take  him  away  and  give  him  some  tea. 

Having  heard  from  the  Governor  of  Alexandria  that  a 


198     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

quantity  of  arms  was  concealed  in  a  village  lying  a  few 
miles  outside  the  city,  I  took  thither  a  party  of  Egyptian 
military  police  and  a  guard  of  Marines.  On  the  way  we 
were  joined  by  some  800  British  soldiers,  who  surrounded 
the  village,  while  the  police  conducted  a  house-to-house 
search.  A  certain  newspaper  correspondent  accompanied 
me.  The  police  knocked  at  the  door  of  a  house,  and 
received  no  reply;  whereupon  the  correspondent  drew  his 
revolver  and  incontinently  blew  in  the  lock.  I  told  him 
that  he  had  no  right  to  do  such  a  thing;  that  he  might 
have  killed  innocent  persons;  and  that  he  must  not  do  it 
again. 

"Oh,  but,"  says  he,  "you  don't  understand  how  to  do 
these  things." 

I  requested  him  to  understand  that  I  was  provost- 
marshal,  and  that  unless  he  obeyed  orders,  he  would  be  sent 
back  to  Alexandria. 

"Oh,  but,"  says  he,  "you  can't  do  that.  You  don't 
understand " 

"  Sergeant ! "  said  I,  "  a  file  of  Marines." 

"  Oh,  but,"  protested  the  correspondent,  "  you  can't " 

"  Sergeant,  take  this  gentleman  back  to  Alexandria." 

It  was  a  long  walk  and  a  hot  walk  home. 

On  the  1 7th  July,  General  Sir  Archibald  Alison  took 
command  of  the  land  forces.  At  the  request  of  the  general, 
the  admiral  ordered  me  to  remain  in  command  of  the  police 
until  1st  August,  when  I  was  relieved  by  Major  Gordon.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  Captain  Fisher  devised  his  armoured 
train,  which,  carrying  armed  bluejackets,  made  daily  sorties. 
A  bluejacket  sitting  on  the  rail  was  ordered  to  come  down 
by  his  officer. 

"  I  can't  see  'em  from  down  below,"  he  said.  The  next 
moment  he  was  hit  by  a  bullet.  "  They've  found  the  range, 
sir,"  said  he,  as  he  tumbled  over. 

Admiral  Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour  was  good  enough  to 
address  to  me  a  very  gratifying  letter  of  commendation  for 
my  services.  Among  the  many  kind  congratulations  I 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  199 

received,  I  valued  especially  the  letters  from  the  captains 
under  whom  I  had  served  in  various  ships,  and  many  admirals 
with  whom  I  had  served.  On  nth  July  I  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  captain.  In  the  following  September  the 
Admiralty  forwarded  to  Admiral  Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour 
(raised  in  November  to  a  peerage  as  Baron  Alcester)  the 
expression  of  their  satisfaction  at  the  services  of  Captain 
Fisher  and  of  myself. 

I  overheard  a  lady  finding  great  fault  with  my  old  chief, 
Sir  Beauchamp  Seymour.  I  asked  her  what  she  had  against 
Lord  Alcester. 

"  Why,"  said  she,  "  he  is  a  Goth  and  a  Vandal.  Did  he 
not  burn  the  Alexandrian  Library  ?  " 

A  sequel  to  the  work  in  Alexandria  was  my  conversa- 
tion with  Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  subject,  which  took  place 
upon  my  return  home  some  weeks  later.  Mr.  Gladstone 
sent  for  me ;  and  after  most  courteously  expressing  his 
appreciation  of  my  services,  he  discussed  the  question  of 
compensation  to  the  inhabitants  of  Alexandria  who  had 
suffered  loss  and  damage.  The  information  he  required  I 
had  carefully  collected  in  Alexandria  by  means  of  an 
organised  intelligence  corps,  upon  each  of  whom  was  im- 
pressed the  fact  that  if  he  gave  false  information  he  would 
most  certainly  be  punished.  My  view  was  then,  and  is  now, 
that  the  whole  of  the  claims  might  have  been  justly  settled 
for  a  million  sterling,  upon  these  conditions :  that  the 
question  should  be  tackled  at  once ;  that  all  palpably  un- 
warranted claims  should  be  repudiated  from  the  outset, 
because  if  they  were  recorded  as  claims  there  would  event- 
ually be  no  way  of  rebutting  them,  and  it  would  be  found 
necessary  to  pay  them  ultimately ;  that  doubtful  claims 
should  be  held  over  for  consideration ;  and  that  the  proved 
claims  should  be  paid  immediately.  The  important  point 
was  that  in  order  to  avoid  difficulties  in  disputes  in  the 
future,  the  matter  should  be  dealt  with  at  once. 

I  knew  of  a  case  (and  of  other  similar  cases)  in  which  a 
jeweller  who  had  contrived  to  remove  the  whole  of  his  stock 


200     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

into  safety  after  the  riot,  put  in  a  claim  for  the  value  of  the 
whole  of  the  said  goods. 

These  considerations  I  laid  before  Mr.  Gladstone,  in- 
forming him  also,  in  the  light  of  the  special  information 
which  had  come  to  my  knowledge,  that  if  the  matter  were 
allowed  to  drift,  the  sum  to  be  disbursed,  instead  of  being 
about  a  million,  would  probably  amount  to  some  four 
millions. 

In  the  event,  the  International  Commission  of  In- 
demnities paid  £4,341, on. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   EGYPTIAN   W AR  (Continued) 
IV.  GARRISON  WORK 

WHEN  1  was  relieved,  on  ist  August  (1882),  of  the  post 
of  provost-marshal  and  chief  of  police,  the  Condor 
was  ordered  to  keep  the  Mex  lines  and  citadel, 
which  defended  the  south-western  boundary  of  Alexandria, 
forming  a  barrier  across  the  long  and  narrow  strip  of  land 
which  extends  between  the  sea  and  Lake  Mareotis,  and 
upon  which  the  city  is  built.  The  fortifications  of  the  sea 
front  were  continued,  with  a  brief  interval,  at  right  angles 
to  the  sea  face,  extending  no  more  than  some  three-quarters 
of  the  distance  across  the  strip  of  land,  so  that  between 
one  end  of  the  fortifications  and  the  sea,  and  between  the 
other  end  and  the  shore  of  Lake  Mareotis,  there  were 
undefended  spaces.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  frame  a 
plan  of  defence  with  the  force  and  materials  at  command, 
sufficient  to  hold  this  left  flank  of  the  city  against  the  large 
bodies  of  rebel  soldiery  and  Arabs  hovering  in  the  vicinity. 
Thirty  men  from  the  Condor  were  brought  on  shore,  with 
the  band,  which,  consisting  of  one  drum  and  one  fife,  was 
few  and  humble  but  convincing. 

The  two  forts  on  the  earthwork  were  manned;  a  40- 
pounder  smooth-bore  taken  from  one  of  the  Mex  Forts 
was  mounted  on  the  roof  of  the  fort  nearest  to  Lake 
Mareotis,  whence  it  was  fired  at  regular  intervals  at  the 
enemy  occupying  the  earthworks  on  the  farther  shore  of  the 
Lake.  After  five  days  they  were  knocked  out  of  the  place. 


202     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Charges  were  made  for  the  gun  out  of  the  miscellaneous 
ammunition  found  in  the  Mex  Forts. 

The  gun  used  to  capsize  almost  every  time  it  was  fired. 
It  was  served  by  a  Maltese  gunner,  who  became  so  super- 
stitiously  devoted  to  his  commanding  officer,  that  when 
I  was  relieved  by  Colonel  Earle,  my  Maltese  never  received 
an  order  without  observing  that  "  Lord  Charles  Beresford 
not  do  that,  sare";  until  Earle  lost  patience,  as  well  he 
might 

"  D n  Lord  Charles  Beresford  ! "  said  he. 

Wire  entanglements  were  fixed  along  the  face  of  the 
earthworks.  In  the  two  open  spaces  at  the  ends  of  the 
line  of  fortifications,  rockets  were  buried,  and  a  lanyard 
was  led  along  from  the  firing  tube  to  a  peg  in  the  ground,  so 
that  anyone  passing  that  way  at  night  would  trip  over 
the  lanyard,  thus  firing  the  rocket,  and  causing  a  beautiful 
fountain  of  fire  to  spring  from  the  ground,  lighting  up 
the  whole  locality.  The  device  soon  stopped  nocturnal 
intrusions. 

The  open  space  at  the  Mareotis  end  was  also  commanded 
by  a  Gatling  gun  mounted  on  the  roof  of  the  fort.  In  the 
forts  and  earthworks  were  about  twenty  miscellaneous 
guns.  These  were  all  kept  loaded  ;  the  powder  being  taken 
from  the  vast  amount  of  loose  powder  stored  in  the  Mex 
lines.  The  guns  were  connected  with  trigger  lines  to  the 
forts,  so  that  the  whole  lot  could  be  fired  from  one  place. 
The  railway  lines  leading  from  Mex  Harbour  through  the 
fortification,  and,  on  the  other  side  of  the  strip  of  land, 
from  the  causeway  leading  across  Lake  Mareotis  into  the 
city,  were  repaired.  The  railway  bridge  by  Lake  Mareotis 
was  repaired,  and  a  torpedo  was  placed  beneath  it  in  case  of 
attack.  A  picquet  of  Marines  occupied  a  truck  placed  on  the 
bridge.  The  train  was  set  running.  The  two  drawbridges 
leading  to  the  forts  were  repaired.  The  men  garrisoning  the 
works  were  housed  in  tents  made  out  of  the  sails  of  the  Arab 
dhows  lying  in  Mex  camber.  A  tank  was  obtained  from 
Alexandria,  and  fresh  water  brought  into  it.  On  the  sea 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  203 

side  of  the  position,  the  Condor  commanded  the  flank  of 
the  approaches. 

Having  thus  secured  this  flank  of  the  city  against  attack, 
so  that  it  could  be  held  against  a  large  force,  it  was  necessary 
to  make  reconnaissances  into  the  surrounding  country.  The 
little  landing-party  went  ashore  every  evening  at  5.30 
(with  the  band,  few  and  humble  but  convincing)  and 
occupied  the  lines.  Every  morning  at  seven  o'clock  they 
returned  to  the  ship;  and  during  the  afternoon  went  out 
upon  reconnaissance,  accompanied  by  a  boat's  gun  mounted 
in  a  bullock  cart,  and  a  rocket-tube  mounted  on  another 
bullock  cart.  Two  horses  were  harnessed  to  each  cart, 
assisted,  when  required,  by  bluejackets  hauling  on  drag-ropes. 
The  men  of  the  Condor  were  reinforced  from  the  Fleet  on 
these  expeditions,  so  that  the  total  force  of  bluejackets  and 
Marines  was  1 50.  The  cavalry  being  represented  solely  by 
the  colonel  and  the  major  of  Marines,  and  myself,  who  were 
mounted,  we  had  no  sufficient  force  wherewith  to  pursue 
the  flying  foe. 

We  used  to  play  hide-and-seek  with  the  soldiery  and 
Bedouin  among  the  sandhills.  When  they  approached  on 
one  flank,  we  shelled  them  with  the  little  gun  until  they 
retired ;  and  then,  hauling  the  gun-cart  and  rocket-cart 
over  the  roughest  ground,  we  suddenly  appeared  and  shelled 
them  on  the  other  flank,  to  their  great  amazement.  All 
hands  enjoyed  these  expeditions  amazingly. 

In  the  course  of  these  reconnaissances,  large  quantities 
of  stores  and  ammunition  were  found  in  the  neighbouring 
villages.  About  three  miles  from  the  lines,  an  immense  store 
of  gun-cotton  and  Abel's  detonators  was  discovered  in  a 
quarry  among  the  low  hills,  stored  in  a  shed.  As  no  hostile 
force  appeared  during  the  next  two  days,  I  determined 
to  destroy  the  gun-cotton.  Captain  A.  K.  Wilson  of  the 
Hecla  sent  20  bluejackets  and  six  Marines  to  assist  me. 
These  were  embarked  and  landed  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
place.  Outposts  were  set,  with  orders  to  signal  should  the 
enemy  appear,  and  the  rest  of  the  party  set  to  work. 


204     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Although  gun-cotton  does  not,  strictly  speaking,  explode 
except  by  detonation,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  define 
where  ignition  ends  and  detonation  begins ;  and  there  had 
been  instances  of  its  explosion,  supposed  to  be  due  to  the 
internal  pressure  of  a  large  mass.  A  tremendous  explosion 
of  gun-cotton  had  occurred  in  1866  at  Stowmarket,  where 
its  manufacture  was  being  carried  on  under  the  patent  of 
Sir  Frederick  Abel,  then  chemist  to  the  War  Office.  On 
another  occasion,  when  Sir  Frederick  was  conducting  an 
experiment  designed  to  prove  that  ignition  was  harmless, 
he  had  his  clothes  blown  off  his  body,  and  narrowly  escaped 
with  his  life.  Recollecting  these  things,  I  thought  it 
advisable  to  spread  the  stuff  in  a  loose  mass  upon  the  hill- 
side sloping  to  the  quarry.  The  gun-cotton  was  packed 
in  boxes.  These  were  unpacked,  and  the  contents  were 
spread  on  the  ground.  Next  to  the  pile,  a  bucket  of  loose 
powder  was  poured  on  the  ground  and  over  the  fuse,  to 
make  sure  of  ignition.  Into  the  powder  was  led  one  end 
of  a  Bickford's  fuse,  which  was  then  threaded  through  the 
discs  of  gun-cotton.  The  fuse  was  timed  to  burn  for  five 
minutes. 

The  work  was  highly  exhausting  to  the  men,  and  more 
than  once  I  felt  inclined  to  call  in  the  outposts  to  help ; 
but  I  decided  that  it  would  not  be  right  to  take  the  risk  of 
a  surprise  attack ;  for  we  were  working  in  a  trap,  being 
closed  in  by  the  quarries  on  one  side  and  by  the  low  hills  on 
the  other.  And  sure  enough,  when  the  men  had  been 
working  for  five  hours,  up  went  the  outpost's  signal,  and 
the  corporal  of  Marines  with  his  three  men  came  run- 
ning in  to  report  that  large  numbers  of  the  enemy  were 
in  sight. 

Hastening  out,  I  saw  about  50  scouts  running  up,  an 
action  so  unusual  that  it  was  evident  they  were  strongly 
supported.  Presently,  about  200  skirmishers  appeared,  and 
behind  them  a  large  body  of  cavalry,  probably  about  700 
in  number.  The  outposts  were  at  once  recalled.  The  men 
were  ordered  out  of  the  quarry,  divided  into  two  companies 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  205 

of  twelve  men  each,  and  retired  by  companies  over  the  hill 
towards  the  shore,  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy.  Mr.  Attwood, 
the  gunner  of  the  Hecla,  a  bluejacket  and  myself,  remained 
to  fire  the  fuse.  It  was  a  five-minute  fuse.  The  retreating 
men  had  been  told  to  count  as  they  ran,  and  at  the  end  of 
four  minutes,  or  when  they  saw  us  lie  down,  to  halt  and  lie 
down.  I  gave  the  order  in  case  there  should  be  an  ex- 
plosion. When  the  men  were  lying  down,  I  fired  the  fuse. 
Then  the  gunner,  the  bluejacket  and  I  ran  about  300  yards, 
and  flung  ourselves  down. 

Then  there  came  a  noise  as  though  a  giant  had  expelled 
a  huge  breath  ;  the  blast  of  the  ignition  burned  our  cheeks ; 
in  the  midst  of  a  vast  column  of  yellow  smoke,  boxes  and 
pieces  of  paper  were  whirling  high  in  air,  and  a  strong  wind 
sucked  back  into  the  vacuum,  almost  dragging  us  along 
the  sand.  The  enemy  were  so  interested  in  the  spectacle 
that  they  gave  us  time  to  get  back  to  the  boats. 

It  is  probable  that  information  had  been  given  to  the 
hostile  forces  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  past  which  we 
went  to  reach  the  quarry  where  was  the  gun-cotton  ;  for,  in 
retreating  to  the  boats,  when  I  looked  back,  instead  of  the 
20  or  30  native  women  who  were  usually  sitting  about 
the  place,  I  saw  about  200  men  eagerly  watching  us 
from  the  house-tops,  evidently  in  the  hope  of  enjoying  the 
gratifying  spectacle  of  our  destruction. 

From  the  summit  of  the  slope  falling  to  the  sea,  I 
signalled  to  the  flagship,  with  a  handkerchief  tied  to  a  pole, 
that  I  was  surrounded :  one  of  the  many  occasions  upon 
which  a  knowledge  of  signalling  proved  invaluable.  There 
was  a  haze  upon  the  water,  and  I  could  not  clearly  discern 
the  answering  signal ;  but  the  signalman  of  the  flagship  had 
seen  my  figure  silhouetted  on  the  sky-line.  Instantly 
after,  Captain  John  Fisher  of  the  Inflexible  manned  and 
armed  boats,  came  ashore,  and  the  enemy  immediately 
retreated. 

Shortly  afterwards,  as  I  was  now  a  captain,  I  was 
relieved  of  the  command  of  the  Condor  by  Commander 


206     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Jeffreys,  and  went  on  half-pay.  I  should  naturally  have 
much  preferred  to  remain  in  my  little  ship  ;  but  she  was 
not  a  captain's  command ;  and  I  left  her  (as  I  see  I  wrote 
at  the  time)  with  a  tear  in  each  eye.  Commander  Jeffreys 
discovered  the  place  where  she  had  been  hit  during  the 
bombardment,  one  of  her  under-water  plates  having  been 
started.  Until  then,  it  was  thought  that  the  only  damage 
consisted  of  a  hole  through  her  awning  arid  the  smashing  of 
a  boat. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  period  of  my  service,  I  was 
most  gratified  to  receive  a  gracious  message  of  congratulation 
from  Her  Majesty  the  Queen. 

H.H.  the  Khedive  wrote  to  me,  kindly  expressing  his 
sense  of  my  services,  and  at  the  same  time  offering  me  an 
appointment  upon  his  staff,  in  which  capacity  I  was  to  go 
to  the  front.  Lord  Granville  and  the  Admiralty  having 
signified  their  permission  that  I  should  accept  the  post,  I 
left  Alexandria  for  Ismailia,  together  with  several  members 
of  the  Khedival  staff. 

We  went  by  steamer,  which  towed  a  huge  iron  lighter 
carrying  horses.  A  beam  ran  from  stem  to  stern  of  the 
lighter,  and  to  it  the  horses  were  tethered  with  halters.  I 
remarked  to  the  captain  of  the  steamer  that  it  would  be 
advisable,  in  order  to  avoid  injuring  the  lighter,  to  take 
every  precaution  to  prevent  the  steamer  from  having  to  go 
astern.  But  in  Ismailia  Bay,  which  was  crowded  with 
shipping,  a  vessel  crossed  the  steamer's  bows,  the  steamer 
was  forced  to  go  astern,  and  she  cut  a  hole  in  the  lighter 
with  her  propeller.  One  of  the  ship's  officers  instantly 
descended  the  Jacob's  ladder  into  the  lighter  with  me,  and 
we  cut  the  halters  of  the  horses,  just  in  time  to  free  them 
before  the  lighter  sank,  and  there  we  were  swimming  about 
among  the  wild  and  frightened  stallions.  By  splashing  the 
water  into  their  faces,  we  turned  one  or  two  shorewards, 
when  the  rest  followed  and  came  safely  to  land. 

Upon  discussing  the  matter  of  my  appointment  to  the 
staff  of  the  Khedive  with  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley,  to  my 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WAR  207 

surprise  he  declined  to  permit  me  to  accept  it.  Discipline 
is  discipline,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  acquiesce. 

I  was  about  packing  up  my  things,  when  Mr.  Cameron, 
the  war  correspondent  of  The  Standard,  informed  me  that  he 
was  authorised  to  appoint  a  correspondent  to  The  New 
York  Herald,  and  also  that  he  had  permission  to  send  the 
said  correspondent  to  the  front,  where  I  particularly  desired 
to  go.  The  notion  attracted  me.  I  applied  to  the  military 
authorities  for  permission  to  accept  the  offer.  Permission 
was,  however,  refused.  So  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  go 
home.  But  before  starting,  I  consoled  myself  by  sending 
some  provisions,  privately,  to  the  unfortunate  officers  at  the 
front,  who,  owing  to  the  substitution  by  the  transport  people 
of  tents  for  food,  were  short  of  necessaries.  I  obtained  from 
the  Orient  four  large  boxes  filled  with  potted  lobster,  salmon, 
sardines,  beef,  tins  of  cocoa,  and  so  forth,  and  sent  one  box 
each  to  the  ist  Life  Guards,  the  Blues,  the  Guards,  and 
the  Royal  Marines.  The  orders  were  that  no  private 
supplies  were  to  go  up.  These  I  ventured  to  disregard  ;  got 
up  bright  and  early  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning ;  and 
had  the  boxes  stowed  under  the  hay  which  was  being  sent 
up  in  railway  trucks,  before  officialdom  was  out  of  bed. 
Then  I  went  home. 

I  consider  that  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley's  conduct  of  the 
campaign,  and  his  brilliant  victory  at  Tel-el-Kebir,  were 
military  achievements  of  a  high  order.  The  public,  perhaps, 
incline  to  estimate  the  merit  of  an  action  with  reference  to 
the  loss  of  life  incurred,  rather  than  in  relation  to  the  skill 
employed  in  attaining  the  object  in  view.  The  attack  at 
dawn  at  Tel-el-Kebir  was  a  daring  conception  brilliantly 
carried  into  execution.  Many  persons,  both  at  the  time  and 
subsequently,  have  explained  how  it  ought  to  have  been  done. 
But  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  did  it. 

The  public  seem  to  appreciate  a  big  butcher's  bill, 
although  it  may  be  caused  by  stupidity  or  by  lack  of  fore- 
sight on  the  part  of  the  general.  But  if  he  retrieves  his 
mistakes,  the  public  think  more  of  him  than  of  the  general 


208     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

who,  by  the  exercise  of  foresight  and  knowledge,  wins  an 
action  with  little  loss  of  life. 

I  carried  home  with  me  a  64  Ib.  shell  fired  from  the 
Condor  at  the  Mex  magazine,  intending  to  present  it  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  I  found  it  in  the  sand.  It  had  passed 
right  through  the  walls  of  the  magazine,  and  it  had  not 
exploded.  Having  brought  it  on  board  the  Condor,  I  caused 
the  gunner,  Mr.  Alexander  Greening,  to  sound  it  with  a 
copper  rod ;  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  empty 
of  gunpowder.  I  therefore  thought  that  it  had  never  been 
filled.  I  intended  to  have  it  cut  in  two  and  a  lamp  for  the 
Prince  made  of  the  pieces,  and  took  it  to  Nordenfelt's  works 
for  the  purpose.  The  foreman,  desirous  of  taking  every 
precaution  before  cutting  it,  had  it  again  filled  with  water 
and  sounded  with  a  copper  rod,  when  it  suddenly  exploded, 
blowing  off  the  foot  of  the  workman  who  held  it,  and  doing 
other  serious  damage.  The  explanation  seems  to  be  that 
the  force  of  the  impact  when  the  shell  was  fired  had  solidified 
the  powder  into  a  hard  mass.  But  explanation  would  have 
little  availed  had  the  shell  burst  in  the  smoking-room  at 
Sandringham,  where  a  fragment  of  it  remains  to  this  day. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
PASSING  THROUGH  EGYPT 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  year  1883  I  was  on  my  way 
out  to  India  with  Lady  Charles  in  the  P.  and  O.  s.s. 

Malwa,  Proceeding  into  Ismailia  Lake,  the  Malwa 
was  rammed  by  another  vessel  which  tried  to  cross  the  Malwa  s 
bows.  I  was  looking  over  the  side  of  the  Malwa  and  I  saw 
a  curious  thing.  I  saw  the  colliding  vessel  rebound  from 
the  Malwa  and  strike  her  again.  I  ran  up  to  the  bridge, 
where  the  captain  had  already  given  orders  to  stop  the 
engines.  The  ship  was  sinking;  it  was  no  time  to  stand 
upon  ceremony;  and  I  ventured  to  suggest  to  the  captain 
that  he  should  put  his  engines  full  steam  ahead,  when  he 
might  hope  to  beach  the  vessel,  whereas  if  she  stayed  where 
she  was,  she  would  infallibly  go  down  in  deep  water.  The 
captain,  like  a  good  seaman,  gave  the  order,  and  the  chief 
engineer  carried  it  into  execution  with  admirable  prompti- 
tude. I  went  down  into  the  engine-room  and  found  the 
water  already  rising  through  the  foot-plates. 

As  the  ship  steamed  towards  the  shore,  settling  down  as 
she  went,  I  stood  with  Lady  Charles  on  the  bridge,  telling 
her  that,  if  the  vessel  sank,  I  should  throw  her  overboard — 
although  she  could  not  swim — and  should  jump  in  after  her. 
To  which  she  merely  replied,  '"  That  will  be  very  dis- 
agreeable ! " 

The  ship  was  safely  beached,  though  not  before  the  water 
had  risen  to  my  cabin.  She  was  afterwards  salved  by  the 
help  of  the  Navy.  H.M.S.  Carysfort,  commanded  by  Captain 
H.  F.  Stephenson,  C.B.  (now  Admiral  Sir  Henry  F.  Stephen- 

VOL.  i. — 14 


210    MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

son,  G.C.V.O.,  K.C.B.,  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  Black  Rod), 
sent  a  carpenter  and  a  working  party ;  and  they  did  excellent 
service  in  the  Malwa. 

Our  party  went  to  Cairo,  there  to  await  the  next  steamer. 

Hicks  Pasha  and  his  staff  dined  with  us  upon  the  night 
before  they  left  Cairo,  upon  their  fatal  expedition.  Colonel 
W.  Hicks  had  been  appointed  by  the  Khedive  chief  of  the 
staff  of  the  Army  of  the  Soudan.  In  the  following  August 
he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief.  From  Cairo  he 
went  to  Souakim,  thence  to  Berber,  and  thence  to  Khartoum. 
On  the  28th  April,  he  fought  a  successful  action  on  the  White 
Nile,  south  of  Khartoum,  in  which  his  Egyptian  troops  did 
well.  In  September,  Hicks  left  Duem  with  his  staff  and 
some  10,000  men  and  marched  into  the  desert,  which 
swallowed  them  up.  The  whole  army  was  exterminated 
by  the  Mahdi's  dervishes.  Gordon  said  that  the  Mahdi  built 
with  the  skulls  of  the  slain  a  pyramid. 

I  applied  for  permission  to  accompany  Hicks  Pasha,  but 
my  old  friend  Lord  Dufferin  was  determined  that  I  should 
not  go  upon  that  hazardous  enterprise.  I  believe  he  tele- 
graphed to  the  Government  on  the  subject.  At  any  rate,  he 
had  his  way,  and  so  saved  my  life. 

In  October,  before  the  news  of  the  disaster  had  reached 
Cairo,  the  British  Army  of  Occupation  had  been  reduced 
from  6700  men  to  3000.  Subsequently,  the  British  Govern- 
ment proceeded  with  the  policy  of  abandoning  the  Soudan, 
in  one  phase  of  which  I  was  to  bear  my  part. 

In  the  meantime,  Lady  Charles  and  I  joined  the  Duke 
of  Portland  and  his  party,  among  whom  were  Lord  de  Grey 
and  Lord  Wenlock;  went  to  India;  enjoyed  some  excellent 
sport ;  and  returned  home. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   SOUDAN   WAR   OF   1884-5 

I.  SUMMARY  OF  EVENTS 

NOTE 

A  YEAR  before  the  British  forces  restored  order  in 
Egypt,  trouble  was  beginning  in  the  Soudan.  One 
Mahomet  Ahmed,  who  was  the  son  of  a  boat-builder, 
and  who  had  the  peculiar  conformation  of  the  teeth  which 
betokened  the  fore-ordained  of  the  Prophet,  announced  that 
he  was  the  Mahdi.  In  July,  1881,  the  holy  man  dwelt  upon 
the  island  of  Abba,  on  the  White  Nile,  above  Khartoum. 
Thence  he  caused  it  to  be  made  known  that  he  was  the 
chosen  instrument  for  the  reformation  of  Islam,  and  that  all 
those  who  denied  him  would  be  abolished.  Reouf  Pasha, 
who  was  then  Governor-General  of  the  Soudan,  summoned 
the  Mahdi  to  Khartoum,  there  to  give  an  account  of  himself. 
The  Mahdi  naturally  refused ;  and  when  Reouf  sent  soldiers 
to  fetch  him,  the  Mahdi  slew  most  of  them,  and  departed 
into  the  hills,  he  and  all  his  following.  The  Governor  of 
Fashoda  took  an  expedition  to  Gheddeer,  and  was  also  slain, 
together  with  most  of  his  men.  Then  Giegler  Pasha,  a 
German,  acting  as  temporary  Governor-General  of  the 
Soudan,  succeeded  in  defeating  the  forces  of  the  Mahdi. 
But  Abdel  Kader,  who,  succeeding  Reouf,  took  over  the 
command  from  Giegler,  was  defeated  in  his  turn.  On  7th 
June,  1882,  the  Egyptian  forces  were  cut  to  pieces  near 
Fashoda.  In  July,  the  Mahdi  was  besieging  Obeid  and 


212     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Bara.  By  October,  1882,  both  places  were  in  danger  of 
falling,  and  Abdel  Kader  was  demanding  reinforcements 
from  Egypt. 

The  Soudan  is  a  country  as  large  as  India ;  at  that  time 
it  had  no  railways,  no  canals,  no  roads,  and,  excepting  the 
Nile  during  a  part  of  the  year,  no  navigable  rivers.  In 
November,  1882,  the  British  Government  informed  the 
Khedive  that  they  declined  to  be  responsible  for  the  con- 
dition of  the  Soudan.  Lord  Granville's  intimation  to  this 
effect  was  the  first  step  in  the  policy  which  progressed  from 
blunder  to  blunder  to  the  desertion  and  death  of  General 
Gordon. 

The  Egyptian  Government,  left  in  the  lurch,  hastily 
enlisted  some  10,000  men,  the  most  part  being  brought  in 
by  force,  and  dispatched  them  to  Abdel  Kader  at  Berber. 
At  Abdel  Kader's  request,  Colonel  Stewart  and  two  other 
British  officers  were  sent  to  Khartoum  to  help  him  to  deal 
with  the  raw  and  mutinous  levies. 

In  December,  a  number  of  British  officers  were  appointed 
to  the  Egyptian  Army  in  Egypt,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  Lord  Dufferin,  and  Sir  Evelyn  Wood 
was  appointed  Sirdar.  The  British  Army  of  Occupation  had 
now  been  reduced  to  12,000  men,  under  the  command  of 
General  Sir  Archibald  Alison,  who,  in  the  following  April 
(1883)  was  succeeded  by  Lieutenant-General  F.  C.  S. 
Stephenson. 

In  January,  1883,  Colonel  W.  Hicks,  afterwards  Hicks 
Pasha,  was  appointed  by  the  Khedive  chief  of  the  staff  of 
the  Army  of  the  Soudan.  Before  he  proceeded  to  the 
theatre  of  war,  Abdel  Kader  had  lost  and  won  various 
engagements,  and  had  reoccupied  the  province  of  Sennar; 
while  the  Mahdi  had  taken  El  Obeid  and  Bara  and  occupied 
the  whole  of  Kordofan. 

In  February,  it  was  announced  in  the  Queen's  Speech 
that  "  the  British  troops  will  be  withdrawn  as  promptly  as 
may  be  permitted  by  a  prudent  examination  of  the  country  "  ; 
a  declaration  provoking  intense  alarm  among  the  European 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  213 

inhabitants  of  Egypt.  Their  protests,  however,  were  totally 
disregarded.  The  Egyptians  naturally  concluded  that 
England  owned  no  real  interest  in  that  reform  of  adminis- 
tration which  her  influence  alone  could  achieve. 

On  7th  February,  1883,  Colonel  Hicks  left  Cairo  for 
Khartoum,  with  his  staff,  consisting  of  Colonels  Colborne 
and  De  Coetlogon,  Majors  Farquhar  and  Martin,  and 
Captains  Warner,  Massey  and  Forrestier-Walker.  Upon 
the  night  before  their  departure,  Colonel  Hicks  and  his  staff 
dined  with  Lord  and  Lady  Charles  Beresford  in  Cairo. 
Lord  Charles  Beresford,  who  was  then  on  half-pay,  had 
expressed  a  wish  to  accompany  Colonel  Hicks,  but  Lord 
Dufferin  disapproving  of  his  suggestion,  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  withdrew  it. 

Hicks  and  his  men  disappeared  into  the  desert,  which 
presently  swallowed  them  up. 

On  the  28th  April,  Hicks  defeated  a  large  force  of  the 
Mahdi's  army  on  the  White  Nile.  The  Egyptian  Govern- 
ment then  decided  to  reconquer  the  province  of  Kordofan, 
and  dispatched  reinforcements  to  Khartoum.  On  the  pth 
September,  Hicks  Pasha,  at  the  head  of  10,000  men,  marched 
for  Duem.  The  last  dispatch  received  from  him  was  dated 
3rd  October,  1883.  Upon  a  day  early  in  November,  Hicks 
and  his  whole  army  were  annihilated. 

His  defeat  left  Khartoum  in  great  danger.  On  9th 
November,  before  the  news  of  the  disaster  reached  England, 
the  British  Government  stated  that  all  British  troops  were 
to  be  withdrawn  from  Egypt.  When  the  fact  was  known, 
the  decision  of  the  Government  was  modified ;  but  they  still 
declined  to  interfere  in  the  Soudan ;  and  advised  the 
Egyptian  Government  to  evacuate  at  least  a  part  of  that 
territory.  The  Egyptian  Government  protesting,  the 
British  Government,  on  4th  January,  1884,  sent  a  peremptory 
message  insisting  that  the  policy  of  evacuation  should  be 
carried  into  execution.  The  inconsequence  of  Her  Majesty's 
Ministers  is  sufficiently  apparent. 

In  the  meantime,  during  August  of  the  preceding  year, 


214     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

1883,  trouble  had  arisen  in  the  Eastern  Soudan,  where 
Osman  Digna,  a  trader,  joined  the  Mahdi,  and  brought  all 
the  tribes  of  that  country  to  his  standard.  At  the  beginning 
of  November,  1883,  just  at  the  time  when  Hicks  Pasha  and 
his  army  had  come  to  their  end,  an  Egyptian  force  under 
Mahmoud  Talma  Pasha  was  defeated  by  Osman  Digna  in 
the  attempt  to  relieve  Tokar,  besieged  by  the  rebels,  Captain 
Moncrieff,  Royal  Navy,  British  Consul  at  Souakim,  being 
killed  in  the  action.  A  second  expeditionary  force  under 
Suleiman  Pasha  was  cut  to  pieces  on  2nd  December  at 
Tamanieh. 

The  Egyptian  Government  then  dispatched  reinforce- 
ments under  the  command  of  General  Valentine  Baker, 
among  whose  staff  were  Colonel  Sartorius,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Harrington,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hay,  Majors  Harvey, 
Giles,  and  Holroyd,  Morice  Bey  and  Dr.  Leslie.  On  the 
4th  February,  1884,  Baker  was  defeated  at  El-Teb,  with  the 
loss  of  nearly  two-thirds  of  his  force.  Morice  Bey,  Dr.  Leslie, 
and  nine  other  European  officers  were  killed.  Souakim 
being  threatened,  Admiral  Hewett,  on  loth  December,  was 
given  the  command  of  the  town,  having  under  him  some 
3800  troops.  Two  days  later  came  the  news  of  the  taking 
of  Sinkat  by  the  rebels,  and  of  the  massacre  of  the  garrison. 
During  the  period  in  which  these  successive  disasters  occurred, 
the  British  Army  of  Occupation  was  kept  idle  in  Cairo  by  the 
orders  of  the  British  Government. 

The  current  of  events  now  divides,  one  leading  to  Khar- 
toum, the  other  still  flowing  in  the  Eastern  Soudan.  The 
British  Government,  hopelessly  at  fault,  turned  to  General 
Charles  Gordon,  as  the  one  man  in  the  world  who  could 
apparently  perform  miracles.  Ten  years  previously, "  Chinese  " 
Gordon,  as  Governor-General  of  the  Soudan,  and  again  in 
1877,  as  Governor-General  of  the  Soudan,  Darfur  and  the 
Equatorial  Provinces,  had  freed  the  country  from  Turkish 
rule,  broken  the  slave  trade,  established  peace,  opened  trade 
routes,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  civilisation.  Since  1877 
he  had  been  engaged  in  setting  wrong  things  right  in  Egypt 

\ 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  215 

in  the  Soudan  again,  in  Abyssinia,  in  China,  in  the  Mauritius, 
at  the  Cape,  in  Palestine,  and  in  the  Congo. 

On  1 8th  January,  1884,  Gordon  was  instructed  by  the 
British  Government  to  report  upon  the  best  method  of 
evacuating  the  Soudan.  When  he  arrived  at  Cairo,  these 
instructions  were  radically  altered  by  Sir  Evelyn  Baring 
(afterwards  Lord  Cromer),  who,  on  the  25th  January,  in- 
formed Gordon  that  he  was  required  actually  to  direct  the 
evacuation  of  Khartoum  and  of  the  whole  Soudan,  and 
afterwards  to  establish  an  organised  government  in  that 
country.  Gordon  arrived  at  Khartoum  on  the  i8th  February, 
where  he  was  hailed  as  the  father  and  saviour  of  the 
people. 

On  the  same  day,  Major-General  Sir  Gerald  Graham  left 
Suez  to  join  at  Souakim  the  force  which  had  been  placed 
under  his  command.  That  force  was  chiefly  drawn  from 
the  British  Army  of  Occupation  in  Egypt.  The  object  of 
the  expedition  was  the  relief  of  Tokar,  or,  if  that  place  had 
already  fallen,  the  protection  of  Souakim,  an  alternative 
which  involved  an  attack  upon  Osman  Digna's  victorious 
army.  Tokar  was  in  fact  taken  by  the  enemy  before  the 
expedition  started. 

The  British  Government,  whose  original  intention  had 
been  to  refrain  from  any  action  in  the  Soudan  whatsoever ; 
which  had  been  compelled  by  force  of  circumstances,  includ- 
ing the  most  frightful  bloodshed,  to  change  a  wholly  negative 
policy  to  a  definite  scheme  of  evacuation ;  now  perceived,  of 
course  too  late,  that  if  the  European  population  was  to  be 
brought  away,  at  least  some  measure  of  military  force  must 
be  employed.  What  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  were  unable  to 
see,  or  what,  if  they  saw,  they  chose  to  ignore,  was  the  plain 
fact  that  the  same  force  and  the  same  measures  and  the 
same  promptitude  would  be  required  for  the  salvation  of 
Europeans  in  face  of  the  enemy,  as  for  the  reconquest  and 
reoccupation  of  the  country.  In  this  delusion,  or  dereliction, 
resides  the  explanation  of  an  affair  which  has  left  an  indelible 
stain  upon  British  honour. 


216     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

On  28th  February,  1884,  Graham  defeated  the  enemy, 
inflicting  upon  them  severe  losses,  at  El-Teb,  near  the  spot 
upon  which  Baker's  disastrous  action  had  occurred  some 
three  weeks  previously.  On  I3th  March,  after  a  hard  and 
at  times  a  dubious  fight,  Graham  won  another  victory  at 
Tamaai,  and  the  power  of  Osman  Digna  was  broken. 
Graham  was  then  ordered  to  return,  and  the  expedition  was 
over. 

By  withdrawing  Graham's  troops,  the  Government  both 
threw  away  the  fruits  of  his  success,  and  deliberately  aban- 
doned the  control  of  the  Souakim-Berber  route  from  Khar- 
toum, by  which  alone  Gordon  could  have  brought  away  the 
refugees.  Berber  was  the  key  to  the  Soudan.  Thenceforth, 
the  Souakim-Berber  route  was  impracticable ;  and  it  was  for 
this  reason  that  Lord  Wolseley  was  obliged  to  take  the  much 
longer  Nile  route. 

On  the  very  day  after  Graham's  victory  at  El-Teb,  and 
before  Graham  had  left  Souakim,  Gordon  had  telegraphed 
from  Khartoum  as  follows : — 

"  There  is  not  much  chance  of  the  situation  improving, 
and  every  chance  of  it  getting  worse ;  for  we  have  nothing 
to  rely  on  to  make  it  better.  You  must,  therefore,  decide 
whether  you  will  or  will  not  make  an  attempt  to  save  the 
two-thirds  of  the  population  who  are  well  affected  before 
these  two-thirds  retreat.  Should  you  wish  to  intervene,  send 
200  British  troops  to  Wady  Haifa,  and.  adjutants  to  inspect 
Dongola,  and  then  open  up  Souakim-Berber  road  by  Indian 
Moslem  troops.  This  will  cause  an  immediate  collapse  of 
the  revolt." 

On  2nd  March  he  telegraphed  again  to  the  same  effect ; 
but  Lord  Granville  declined  to  accede  to  General  Gordon's 
suggestions.  A  few  days  later,  when  the  Eastern  Soudan  and 
the  Souakim-Berber  route  had  been  definitely  abandoned, 
Sir  Evelyn  Baring  strongly  advised  the  British  Government 
to  obtain  command  of  the  Souakim-Berber  route.  But  the 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  217 

advice  was  refused  by  Lord  Granville,  and  the  most  urgent 
appeals  continued  to  be  addressed  to  him  in  vain. 

Deserted  by  the  Government,  Gordon  tried,  and  failed, 
to  raise  money  privately  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  Turkish 
troops.  Early  in  April,  Khartoum  was  closely  besieged. 
At  this  time,  Lord  Wolseley  urged  upon  the  Government 
the  necessity  of  relieving  Gordon.  In  May,  preparations 
for  war  were  begun.  A  part  of  the  British  Army  of  Occu- 
pation in  Egypt  was  sent  up  the  Nile;  and  Commander 
Hammill  and  other  naval  officers  were  employed  to  report 
upon  the  navigation  of  the  river.  These  facts  did  not 
prevent  Lord  Hartington  from  informing  the  House  of 
Commons,  early  in  July,  that  the  Government  had  no  inten- 
tion of  sending  an  expedition  to  relieve  General  Gordon, 
unless  it  were  made  clear  that  by  no  other  means  could  he 
be  relieved,  and  adding  that  the  Government  had  "  received 
no  information  making  it  desirable  that  we  should  depart 
from  that  decision  "  (Royce,  The  Egyptian  Campaigns}.  On 
24th  July,  Lord  Wolseley  made  a  spirited  protest  against 
the  procrastination  of  the  Government.  The  pressure  of 
public  opinion  could  no  longer  be  entirely  withstood.  On 
3Oth  July,  Gordon  sent  a  message  in  which  he  declared  his 
retreat  to  be  impossible. 

On  5th  August,  Mr.  Gladstone  asked  and  obtained  a 
vote  of  credit.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  were  the  prepara- 
tions for  war  begun  in  England.  Having  decided,  upon  the 
advice  of  Lord  Wolseley,  to  follow  the  Nile  route  instead  of 
the  Souakim-Berber  route,  the  Government  ordered  800  boats. 
These  were  30  feet  long,  having  six  feet  six  inches  beam, 
two  feet  six  inches  draught,  fitted  with  12  oars,  two  masts 
and  lug  sails;  each  designed  to  carry  two  boatmen  and  10 
soldiers  with  provisions,  arms  and  ammunition.  Eight  steam 
pinnaces  and  two  stern-wheel  paddle-boats  were  also  fitted 
out ;  the  Nile  steamers  belonging  to  the  Egyptian  Govern- 
ment were  taken  over ;  and  380  voyageurs  from  Canada  were 
engaged.  The  total  force  of  troops  selected  numbered  7000. 
Messrs.  Thomas  Cook  &  Son  contracted  to  transport  the 


2i8     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

whole  expedition  to  above  the  Second  Cataract.  Lord 
Wolseley  was  appointed  commander- in -chief;  General 
Sir  Redvers  Buller  was  chief  of  staff;  General  Earle  was 
given  command  of  a  brigade ;  special  service  officers  were : 
Colonels  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  Brackenbury,  Harrison,  Hen- 
derson, Maurice,  Lord  Anson  (Royce,  The  Egyptian  Cam- 
paigns]. Lord  Charles  Beresford  was  attached  to  Lord 
Wolseley's  staff. 

Even  now,  the  Government  failed  to  recognise  the  plain 
facts  of  the  case.  Their  instructions  to  Lord  Wolseley 
were  that  the  main  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  rescue 
General  Gordon.  Her  Majesty's  Ministers  considered  that 
it  might  be  practicable  to  achieve  his  release  without  going 
to  Khartoum,  and  that  in  any  case  it  was  desirable  to  avoid 
any  fighting  so  far  as  possible. 

When  Lord  Wolseley  started  from  Cairo  on  27th  Sep- 
tember, 1884,  the  advance  was  already  going  rapidly 
forward.  Under  the  direction  of  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  and 
Commander  Hammill,  a  number  of  the  whaler  boats  had 
been  transported  to  Wady  Haifa,  which  is  nearly  900  miles 
from  Khartoum,  the  total  length  of  the  Nile  route  being 
1650  miles.  Along  the  river,  up  to  Wady  Haifa  and  a 
little  beyond  to  Sarras,  bases  of  supply  had  been  established  ; 
an  advance  guard  was  already  at  New  Dongola,  about  100 
miles  above  Wady  Haifa,  under  the  command  of  General 
Sir  Herbert  Stewart,  he  who  afterwards  led  the  Desert 
Column. 

Arriving  at  Wady  Haifa  on  5th  October,  Lord  Wolseley 
received  news  that  Colonel  J.  S.  Stewart,  Mr  Power,  British 
Consul  at  Khartoum  and  correspondent  of  The  Times, 
M.  Herbin,  French  Consul,  and  a  party  of  Greek  and 
Egyptian  refugees,  who  had  left  Khartoum  in  the  steamer 
Abbas,  had  all  been  slain.  Stewart  had  with  him  Gordon's 
papers,  which,  of  course,  were  taken  by  the  Mahdi's  men. 

On  the  8th  October  a  letter  from  M.  Herbin  was  received 
at  Cairo.  It  was  dated  from  Khartoum,  2pth  July,  1884,  and 
stated  that  there  were  then  provisions  for  two  months  in  the 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  219 

place.     The  time  had  thus   expired — and    M.   Herbin   had 
been  murdered — ere  the  letter  arrived. 

A  temporary  base  was  formed  at  Wady  Haifa ;  and  bases 
of  supplies  were  established  along  the  river  up  to  New 
Dongola.  By  means  of  extraordinary  exertions,  boats  and 
steamers  were  hauled  up  to  Dongola  through  the  rapids. 
Lord  Wolseley  formed  a  Camel  Corps  of  1 500  men,  consist- 
ing of  four  regiments,  Heavy  Cavalry,  Light  Cavalry,  Guards, 
and  Mounted  Infantry,  with  a  detachment  of  Royal  Marines. 
Early  in  November,  a  general  advance  was  made  from  Wady 
Haifa.  Wolseley  arrived  at  Dongola  on  3rd  November. 
Two  days  previously,  on  ist  November,  Sir  Evelyn  Baring 
had  received  a  message  from  Gordon,  dated  I3th  July,  saying 
that  he  could  hold  out  for  four  months.  The  limit,  there- 
fore, had  nearly  been  reached  by  the  time  the  expedition  was 
leaving  Wady  Haifa,  900  miles  from  Khartoum. 

Lord  Wolseley,  early  in  November,  considered  that  it 
would  take  to  the  end  of  the  year  to  concentrate  his  forces 
at  Ambukol,  just  above  Old  Dongola.  He  returned  to 
Wady  Haifa  to  expedite  progress  ;  and  by  the  middle  of 
December  headquarters  were  established  at  Korti,  and  by 
Christmas  the  greater  part  of  the  force  was  concentrated 
there.  During  the  whole  of  this  period,  Wolseley's  army 
must  be  figured  as  a  river  of  men  flowing  along  the  river  Nile, 
the  infantry  struggling  up  in  boats,  the  mounted  men  toiling 
along  the  banks ;  the  stream  of  men  banking  up  at  head- 
quarters, the  military  front,  which  is  steadily  pushed  forward 
from  Wady  Haifa  to  New  Dongola,  from  New  Dongola  to 
Old  Dongola  60  to  70  miles  farther  up,  from  Old  Dongola 
to  Korti. 

On  1 7th  November  a  letter  was  received  from  Gordon 
saying  that  he  could  hold  out  for  forty  days  from  the  date 
of  the  superscription,  4th  November,  1884,  thus  leaving 
Wolseley  barely  four  weeks  to  accomplish  a  task  needing 
as  many  months.  On  28th  November  another  letter  from 
Gordon,  dated  9th  September,  gave  the  relief  expedition 
four  months,  thus  leaving  Wolseley  five  weeks  from  the 


220     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

date  upon  which  the  letter  was  received.     It  was  now  clear 
that  the  expedition  could  not  reach  Khartoum  in  time. 

When  Lord  Wolseley,  towards  the  end  of  December,  had 
his  forces  concentrated  at  Korti,  he  decided  to  divide  them 
into  two  columns,  the  Desert  Column  and  the  Nile  Column. 
The  reasons  for  his  scheme  can  only  be  clearly  apprehended 
by  a  reference  to  the  map.  At  Korti,  the  Nile  turns  north- 
east, looping  back  again,  and  resuming  its  southward  course 
at  Metemmeh.  A  straight  line  drawn  across  the  Bayuda 
Desert  from  Korti  to  Metemmeh  is  the  short  cut.  This  was 
the  route  given  to  the  Desert  Column.  The  Nile  Column 
was  to  proceed  up  the  loop  of  the  river  to  Hamdab,  there 
to  avenge  the  murder  of  Colonel  Stewart  and  his  party,  to 
proceed  higher  up  to  Berti,  and  thence  to  secure  the  bend 
of  the  river  and  to  open  up  the  desert  route  back  to  Korosko, 
below  Wady  Haifa,  and  from  Korosko  it  was  intended  to 
attack  Berber,  and  thence  to  join  forces  with  the  Desert 
Column  at  Metemmeh. 

The  Nile  Column,  numbering  about  3000  men,  under 
the  command  of  Major-General  Earle,  Brigadier-General 
Brackenbury  being  second  in  command,  left  Korti  on  28th 
December,  1884. 

The  Desert  Column  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
General  Sir  Herbert  Stewart.  With  him  was  Colonel  Sir 
Charles  Wilson,  who  was  instructed  to  take  a  body  of  troops 
from  Metemmeh  to  Khartoum.  The  Column  consisted  of 
sections  of  the  Camel  Corps,  a  company  of  the  Royal 
Engineers,  a  detachment  of  the  ipth  Hussars,  detachments 
of  the  Commissariat  and  Medical  Corps,  and  the  Naval 
Brigade,  which  was  placed  under  the  command  of  Lord 
Charles  Beresford.  The  total  force  numbered  73  officers, 
1032  non-commissioned  officers  and  men,  2099  camels,  and 
40  horses.  The  Desert  Column  left  Korti  on  3Oth  December, 
1884.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  forlorn  hope. 

(The  writer  desires  to  acknowledge  the  use  he  has  made 
of  the  excellent  narrative  of  events  contained  in  The 
Egyptian  Campaigns^  by  the  Hon.  Charles  Royle.) 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
THE   SOUDAN   WAR  (Continued} 

II.  HOW  WE  BROUGHT  THE  BOATS  THROUGH  THE 
GREAT  GATE 

IN  January,  1884,  General  Gordon  was  entrusted  by  the 
British  and  Egyptian  Governments  with  the  impossible 

task  of  evacuating  the  Soudan  and  of  organising  its 
future  internal  administration,  in  the  face  of  a  vast  horde 
of  armed  fanatics.  In  April,  the  investment  of  Khartoum, 
in  which  Gordon  was  shut  up,  was  complete.  In  May, 
preparations  for  war  were  begun  in  England  and  in  Egypt. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  8th  August  that  Lord  Hartington 
informed  General  Stephenson,  commanding  the  British  Army 
of  Occupation  in  Egypt,  that  measures  would  be  taken  to 
relieve  Gordon.  During  the  same  month  the  whale-boats 
for  the  Nile  route  were  ordered.  On  26th  August  General 
Stephenson  was  informed  that  Lord  Wolseley  would  com- 
mand the  expedition. 

In  August,  while  I  was  staying  with  the  Duke  of 
Fife  at  Mar  Lodge,  I  was  appointed  to  Lord  Wolseley 's 
Staff. 

I  sailed  with  Lord  Wolseley  and  the  rest  of  his  Staff. 
We  arrived  at  Alexandria  on  pth  September,  1884,  and 
went  on  to  Cairo,  where  we  lodged  in  the  Palace  on  the 
Shoobra  Road.  Here  were  Lord  Wolseley,  General  Sir 
Redvers  Buller,  Colonel  Swaine,  Major  Wardrop,  and  Lord 
Edward  Fitzgerald,  A.D.C.  to  Buller.  Sir  Evelyn  Wood 
and  Commander  Hammill  were  already  up  the  Nile  organis- 


222     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

ing  transport  and  supply.     General  Sir  Herbert  Stewart  and 
General  Earle  were  at  Wady  Haifa. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  relate  the  history  of  the  war, 
which  has  been  admirably  recorded  in  the  various  works 
dealing  with  the  subject ;  but  rather  to  narrate  my  personal 
experiences  during  the  campaign.  And  the  reader  will  also 
be  left  to  his  own  consideration  of  the  contemporary  affairs  of 
the  great  world  :  the  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  losses 
and  gains,  desires  foiled  and  ambitions  achieved,  the  shifts 
and  intrigues  and  gossip  of  domestic  politics,  the  portentous 
manoeuvres  upon  the  clouded  stage  of  international  drama: 
all  of  which,  to  the  sailors  and  soldiers  of  the  forlorn  hope 
strung  along  the  gigantic  reaches  of  the  Nile,  toiling  and 
fighting  in  the  desert,  went  by  as  though  it  had  never  been. 
It  is  an  old  story  now ;  very  many  of  my  gallant  comrades 
have  passed  away ;  but  the  record  of  their  courage  and 
endurance  remains,  and  shall  remain. 

When  we  arrived  in  Cairo  there  were  already  29  naval 
officers  and  190  men,  divided  into  several  sections,  at  work 
along  the  Nile.  These  were  sent  by  Admiral  Lord  John 
Hay,  commander-in-chief  in  the  Mediterranean.  In  addi- 
tion, the  Admiralty  had  appointed  two  or  three  senior 
officers,  among  whom  was  Captain  Boardman  (afterwards 
Admiral  F.  R.  Boardman,  C.B.).  At  Lord  Wolseley's 
request,  Boardman  was  placed  in  command  of  the  whole 
naval  contingent,  which  had  not  hitherto  been  under  either 
a  naval  officer  in  chief  command  or  the  military  authority. 
My  own  position  with  regard  to  the  naval  contingent  was 
simply  that  of  Lord  Wolseley's  representative. 

While  we  were  in  Cairo  I  purchased  for  £24  my  famous 
racing  camel  Bimbashi.  Buller  also  bought  a  camel,  and  we 
rode  together  daily.  He  used  to  laugh  till  he  nearly  fell  out 
of  his  saddle,  when  my  camel  ran  away  with  me  through 
and  over  foot-passengers,  donkeys,  carriages  and  dogs.  I 
might  haul  Bimbashi's  head  round  till  it  was  under  my 
knee,  and  he  was  looking  astern,  and  still  he  charged 
onwards. 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  223 

The  whale-boats  designed  to  transport  the  expedition 
were  then  arriving  in  large  numbers.  The  total  number 
was  800.  They  were  similar  to  the  man-of-war  3O-foot 
whaler,  but  fuller  in  the  body  to  enable  them  to  carry 
more  weight.  Each  boat  was  30  feet  long,  with  six  feet 
six  inches  beam,  and  two  feet  six  inches  draught,  fitted  for 
12  oars,  and  two  masts  with  lug  sails,  and  capable  of 
carrying  10  soldiers,  two  boatmen  (Canadian  voyageurs\ 
1000  rations  and  ammunition. 

There  was  a  story  current  when  the  boats  were  struggling 
up  the  Nile,  that  one  of  them,  manned  by  a  sergeant  and 
eight  soldiers,  but  without  a  voyageur  on  board,  having 
run  athwart  a  rock  and  upset,  a  soldier  observed  to  the 
sergeant  that  "  the  cove  who  sent  nine  men  in  a  boat  with 
1000  rations  must  have  been  this  here  journey  before !" 

There  were  also  to  be  provided  eight  steam  pinnaces, 
two  stern-wheel  paddle  boats,  and  a  number  of  hired 
Egyptian  Government  steamers.  The  whale-boats  as  they 
arrived  were  sent,  first,  by  rail  and  river  to  Assiout.  Thence 
they  were  towed  to  Assouan,  where  is  the  First  Cataract. 
Here  they  were  either  railed  on  trucks,  or  hauled  through 
the  rapids  to  Shellal,  eight  miles  up.  From  Shellal  to 
Wady  Haifa,  200  miles  farther,  was  plain  sailing.  At  Wady 
Haifa  is  the  Second  Cataract  and  the  formidable  rapid  of 
Bab-el-Kebir,  or  the  "  Great  Gate." 

Early  in  September  I  was  ordered  by  Lord  Wolseley 
to  go  up  the  Nile,  overhauling  the  arrangements  for  the 
water  transport,  right  up  to  Wady  Haifa,  which  would  be 
the  temporary  military  base,  I  went  by  train  from  Cairo 
to  Assiout,  the  hottest  journey  I  had  ever  endured.  India 
was  nothing  to  it.  The  desert  gathered  itself  up  to  destroy 
me.  Any  little  spot  upon  my  person  which  was  not  deep 
in  desert  was  a  fly-bazaar.  But  at  Assiout  a  cold  shower- 
bath  paid  for  all.  Here  I  investigated  the  transport  arrange- 
ments made  by  Captain  Boardman,  and  found  them 
excellent.  I  may  say  at  once  that  the  whole  of  Captain 
Boardman's  work  was  admirable,  and  that  his  management 


224     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

throughout  the  campaign  was  marked  by  the  greatest  good 
feeling,  tact,  and  patience. 

I  left  Assiout  in  one  of  Messrs.  Cook's  steamers,  the 
Fersaat,  which  had  the  appearance  of  a  boat  and  the 
manners  of  a  kangaroo.  She  was  loosely  concocted  of 
iron  and  leaked  at  every  rivet ;  she  squealed  and  grunted ; 
her  boiler  roared  like  a  camel ;  she  bounded  as  she  went. 
Her  Reis  (captain  and  pilot)  was  a  sorrowful  old  Mohamme- 
dan, whose  only  method  of  finding  out  if  the  shoals  and 
sands  were  still  in  the  same  place  was  by  running  upon 
them ;  and  his  manner  of  getting  off  them  was  to  cry 
"  Allah  Kerim  !  "  ("  God  is  great !  ")  and  to  beat  his  poor  old 
forehead  on  the  deck.  In  the  meantime  one  of  his  Arabs, 
tastefully  attired  in  a  long  blue  night-gown,  an  enormous 
pair  of  drawers,  and  decorated  elastic-sided  boots,  stripped 
and  jumped  overboard  and  pushed  the  boat,  and  while  he 
pushed  he  chanted  a  dirge.  As  the  boat  began  to  move, 
he  made  sounds  which  suggested  that  he  was  about  to  be 
violently  sick  but  could  not  quite  manage  it  satisfactorily, 
although  encouraged  thereto  by  the  loud  objurgations  of 
the  two  stokers.  When  he  clambered  back  on  deck,  he 
put  on  the  decorated  boots  and  walked  about  in  them  till 
he  was  dry  enough  to  dress  ;  while  the  Reis  gave  thanks  to 
his  Maker,  and  the  two  stokers,  men  who  knew  nothing  and 
feared  nothing,  piled  wood  on  the  furnaces  and  drove  the 
boat  along  again. 

If  anyone  walked  from  port  to  starboard  or  touched  the 
helm,  the  boat  rolled  over,  and  until  the  next  roll  maintained 
a  list  of  ten  degrees,  so  that  I  was  frequently  shot  off  the 
locker  upon  which  I  was  trying  to  sleep,  landing  upon 
the  top  of  Jose",  my  Maltese  interpreter,  and  followed  by 
field-glasses,  filter,  sword  and  boots.  The  mosquito-curtains 
carried  away,  and  the  mosquitoes  instantly  attacked  in 
force,  driving  me  nearly  mad  with  loss  of  blood,  irritation, 
and  rage.  My  only  comfort  was  a  pneumatic  life-belt, 
which  had  been  sent  to  me  by  Lady  Charles,  and  which  I 
used  as  a  pillow. 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  225 

So  we  struggled  along  against  the  stream  for  the  330 
miles  to  Assouan ;  and  the  weather  was  not  too  hot,  and 
the  nights  were  cool,  and  the  banks  were  fringed  with  date- 
palms,  and  every  night  the  sun  sank  from  the  intense  blue 
of  the  zenith,  laced  with  long-drawn  clouds  of  rose,  to  the 
lucent  green  low  in  the  west,  and  the  sand  turned  to  gold 
colour  and  rose,  until  the  sun  dropped  suddenly  out  of 
sight  and  all  turned  grey  like  ashes.  Then  a  cold  little 
wind  sprang  up  out  of  the  desert  and  the  night  deepened 
into  the  velvet  dark  flashing  with  a  myriad  stars. 

On  23rd  September  I  came  to  Assouan :  reorganised 
the  postal  service  to  bring  two  mails  a  week  by  steam- 
launch  :  made  arrangements  for  the  rapid  working  of  the 
water  transport  generally,  ready  for  the  time  of  pressure, 
and  sent  an  urgent  request  for  flexible  wire  hawsers,  as  I  was 
sure  they  would  be  urgently  required. 

Leaving  Assouan  on  24th  September,  I  arrived  at  Wady 
Haifa  on  the  27th,  Here  were  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  and  his 
Staff;  among  whom  was  my  old  friend  Zohrab  Pasha.  I 
was  immediately  set  to  work  trying  camels,  as  I  had 
become  acquainted  with  these  singular  animals  in  India. 

Upon  the  day  of  my  arrival  I  went  out  with  a  young 
officer  in  the  Mounted  Infantry.  His  camel  blundered  over 
an  irrigation  ditch,  and  flung  my  young  friend  head  over 
heels  into  the  mud,  where  he  sat  looking  sadly  up  into  the 
face  of  his  steed,  which  was  complaining,  as  camels  do, 
making  a  peculiar  mumbling  noise  like  an  old  woman  kept 
waiting  for  her  tea.  Having  been  restored  to  his  seat,  this 
unfortunate  youth  immediately  rode  too  close  to  the  river 
and  incontinently  fell  into  a  deep  mud  hole  from  which  he 
had  to  be  dug  out. 

On  5th  October  Lord  Wolseley  arrived  at  Wady  Haifa, 
as  cheery  as  usual,  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  a  dahabieh. 
Sir  Redvers  Buller  and  Zohrab  Pasha  were  also  dwelling  in 
dahabiehs.  I  was  attached  to  Sir  Evelyn  Wood's  mess, 
Sir  Evelyn  being  in  charge  of  communications.  I  lived  in 
a  small  bell  tent  close  to  the  river,  chiefly  furnished  with  a 
VOL.  i. — 15 


226     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

penny  whistle,  a  photograph  of  Lady  Charles,  my  letters 
from  home,  and  a  stag  beetle  big  enough  to  carry  me  to 
hounds,  which  I  generally  had  to  chase  from  my  bed. 

Upon  Lord  Wolseley's  arrival  we  heard  the  rumour  of 
the  murder  of  Colonel  Stewart  at  El-Kamar,  and  of  the 
slaying  of  his  companions.  Ultimately,  the  news  was 
confirmed.  Stewart,  with  three  steamers,  had  left  Khartoum 
on  loth  September.  After  shelling  the  forts  at  Berber, 
two  of  the  steamers  returned;  while  Stewart,  in  the  Abbas, 
which  was  towing  two  boats  carrying  refugees,  went  on  to 
Abu  Hamid,  where  the  natives  opened  a  heavy  fire.  The 
boats  were  cast  adrift  and  their  passengers  captured. 
Stewart  went  on ;  his  steamer  was  wrecked  near  the  village 
of  Hebbeh,  at  which,  having  been  induced  to  land  by 
treachery,  Stewart,  M.  Herbin,  French  Consul  at  Khartoum, 
Mr.  Power,  Times  correspondent,  and  a  number  of  Greeks 
and  Egyptians,  were  slain.  It  was  a  pitiful  end  to  all 
Colonel  Stewart's  gallant  service  with  Gordon. 

During  the  first  part  of  my  time  at  Wady  Haifa  I  was 
engaged  under  Lord  Wolseley's  instructions  in  the  inspection 
of  the  transport  up  and  down  the  river,  often  riding  more 
than  forty  miles  in  a  day  upon  a  camel.  Wady  Haifa  was 
then  being  formed  into  the  base  camp  preparatory  to  the 
general  advance :  and  troops  and  stores  were  arriving  daily. 
The  railway  ran  along  the  east  bank  of  the  river  to  Sarras, 
33  miles  distant. 

One  day,  when  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  and  a  party  of  soldiers 
were  going  by  train  to  Sarras,  and  Commander  Hammill 
and  I  were  accompanying  them,  the  engine  broke  down  half- 
way. The  Egyptian  engineer  and  stoker  being  helpless, 
Hammill  and  I  examined  the  locomotive,  Hammill  taking 
the  top  part,  while  I  lay  on  my  back  underneath,  close  to 
the  furnace,  where  the  sensation  was  like  being  baked  in  an 
oven.  The  bearings  were  overheated,  a  lubricating  tube 
having  become  unscrewed.  After  two  hours'  hard  work,  we 
managed  to  reverse  the  tube  end  for  end  and  to  refix  it 
Sir  Evelyn  Wood  helped  to  pull  me  from  under  the  engine, 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  227 

and  laughed  till  he  cried.  I  was  covered  with  black  grease 
from  top  to  toe,  and  my  clothes  were  scorched  to  tatters. 
Hammill  was  in  no  better  case,  his  suit  being  drenched  with 
oil.  The  spectacle  may  have  been  very  amusing  to  the 
general;  but  neither  Hammill  nor  I  had  more  than  two 
suits,  and  here  was  one  of  them  destroyed  entirely. 

By  the  5th  October,  when  Lord  Wolseley  arrived  at 
Wady  Haifa,  Sir  Herbert  Stewart  had  been  for  several  days 
at  Dongola  with  250  Mounted  Infantry,  who  were  trans- 
ported in  nuggars  (native  boats)  from  Sarras.  The  whale- 
boats  were  arriving  daily  at  Wady  Haifa,  the  first  boat 
having  been  hauled  through  the  rapids  on  25th  September, 
and  by  the  5th  October  there  were  103  whalers  assembled 
at  Wady  Haifa.  At  Wady  Haifa  is  the  Second  Cataract, 
at  the  lower  end  of  which  is  the  gorge  of  Bab-el-Kebir, 
the  Great  Gate.  Between  Wady  Haifa  and  Dal  are  the 
cataracts  of  Samneh,  Attireh,  Ambigol,  Tangour  and 
Akasha.  At  intervals  of  about  33  miles  from  Sarras  to 
<New)  Dongola,  stations  were  established  with  commis- 
sariat depots.  The  transport  of  troops  and  stores  from  the 
base  camp  at  Wady  Haifa  to  Dongola  consisted  of  the 
steamers,  whale-boats,  and  nuggars  along  the  river,  the  train 
from  Wady  Haifa  to  Sarras,  from  Sarras  to  Ambigol  by 
camel,  thence  by  water.  The  Camel  Corps  marched  along 
the  east  bank  to  Dongola.  It  was  composed  of  four 
regiments,  Heavy,  Light,  Guards,  and  Mounted  Infantry, 
each  being  composed  of  detachments  from  cavalry  and 
infantry  regiments,  each  detachment  consisting  of  two  officers, 
two  sergeants,  two  corporals,  one  bugler,  and  38  men ;  total, 
94  officers,  1700  N.C.O.'s  and  men. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  condition  of  affairs  early  in 
October  (1884),  when  I  was  stationed  at  the  Second 
Cataract  at  Wady  Haifa.  Here  the  Nile  divides  into  two, 
flowing  on  either  side  of  a  group  of  rocks  and  islands  for 
about  20  miles,  and  at  the  other  (or  upper)  end  of  the  group 
of  rocks  and  islands,  on  the  east  (or  left)  bank,  is  the  sickle- 
shaped  gorge  of  Bab-el-Kebir.  At  this  time,  although  the 


228     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

river  was  falling,  the  roar  of  the  torrent  pouring  through 
the  Bab  was  so  tremendous,  that  no  voice  could  be  heard, 
and  we  communicated  with  one  another  by  semaphore. 
When  I  left  the  Bab,  goats  were  feeding  in  the  bed  of  the 
river. 

Lord  Wolseley  told  me  that  he  was  informed  that  it  was 
impossible  to  haul  the  steamers  up  the  Second  Cataract,  and 
asked  me  if  I  could  do  it. 

I  replied  that  nothing  was  impossible  until  it  was  proved 
to  be  impossible ;  and  that,  in  the  case  under  consideration, 
I  would  admit  the  impossibility  when  I  had  smashed  two 
steamers  in  trying  to  get  them  through ;  while  if  I  smashed 
only  one,  I  might  thereby  get  experience  which  would 
enable  me  to  succeed  with  the  other. 

The  steamers  were  hauled  through  successfully  while 
the  Bab-el-Kebir  was  still  full  and  roaring,  the  current  being 
so  powerful  that  the  steamers  forging  against  it  trembled 
like  a  whip. 

Some  4000  natives  were  put  on  the  hawser  of  the  first 
steamer;  and  as  they  hauled  her  up,  she  had  but  a  foot's 
clearance  between  her  sides  and  the  rocks.  The  torrent 
flung  her  against  them,  and  if  she  had  not  been  defended  by 
timber  and  mats,  she  would  have  been  smashed  to  pieces. 
About  the  middle  of  the  gorge  the  natives  could  move  her 
no  farther.  Whereupon  they  cried  to  Allah  to  strengthen 
them,  and  to  order  the  rope  to  pull  harder  and  to  slacken 
the  water.  But  as  their  prayers  availed  not,  I  eased  the 
steamer  back  again,  and  put  about  1 500  British  soldiers  on 
the  hawser.  They  did  not  pray;  indeed,  their  language 
was  as  it  were  the  reverse  of  prayer ;  but  they  dragged  the 
steamer  right  through.  Theologically  speaking,  the  victory 
should  have  gone  to  the  natives.  I  put  the  problem  to  a 
bishop,  but  he  was  unable  to  solve  it. 

The  task  of  hauling  the  whalers  through  the  Second 
Cataract  was  at  first  entrusted  to  Koko,  the  native  pilot  of 
Bab-el-Kebir.  His  method  was  to  take  a  line,  dive  with  it 
into  the  rapids,  and  carry  it  across  the  river.  The  line  was 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  229 

frequently  torn  from  him  by  the  current,  and  many  of  the 
boats  were  stove  in  against  the  rocks. 

I  designed  a  scheme  of  haulage,  and  was  eventually 
placed  by  Lord  Wolseley  in  charge  of  the  whole  of  the 
water  transport  from  Wady  Haifa  to  Gemai,  a  stretch  of 
about  17  miles.  At  Gemai  was  established  a  dockyard, 
where  damaged  boats  were  repaired  and  equipped  for  the 
rest  of  the  voyage. 

My  scheme  for  hauling  the  boats  consisted  of  a  stout 
standing  guess  warp  rigged  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right 
angles  to  the  course  of  the  boat  to  be  hauled,  and  secured 
at  either  end  to  rock  or  tree ;  one  end  of  a  short  hawser  was 
hooked  to  the  guess  warp,  so  that  it  could  move  freely  up 
and  down  it,  and  a  block  was  secured  to  the  other  end. 
Through  the  block  was  rove  a  towing  rope  proper,  one  end 
secured  to  the  boat,  and  the  working  party  on  land  tailing 
on  to  the  other.  As  the  course  of  the  river  shifted,  the 
guess  warp  was  moved ;  the  whole  passage  being  accom- 
plished by  a  series  of  these  operations.  In  certain  places 
two  blocks  were  used,  a  standing  block  and  a  pendant 
block,  a  pendant  being  rove  through  the  standing  block, 
one  end  secured  to  the  pendant  block,  men  hauling  on  the 
other  end;  and  through  the  pendant  block  was  rove  the 
hauling  line,  one  end  secured  to  the  boat,  men  hauling  on 
the  other  upon  the  bank  opposite  to  that  on  which  were  the 
pendant  crew.  By  hauling  on  the  hauling  line,  then  easing 
the  pendant,  and  then  hauling  again  on  the  hauling  line, 
the  boat  was  brought  clear  of  the  Cataract  and  hauled 
round  the  corner  into  smooth  water. 

Each  boat  was  supplied  with  two  poles  for  punting  and 
a  long  line  for  tracking,  besides  oars  and  sails. 

The  whole  equipment  of  the  boats  was  organised  by  Sir 
Redvers  Buller,  who  utilised  his  experience  of  the  Red  River 
expedition,  and  nothing  could  have  better  served  its  purpose. 

The  nuggars,  or  native  boats,  were  bought  near  Assouan, 
and  were  then  brought  up  to  Wady  Haifa,  whence  they  were 
hauled  through  the  Cataract,  then  loaded  with  stores  and 


230     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

sent  on  up  river.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  they 
should  be  dispatched  as  quickly  as  possible;  for  an  army 
moves  on  its  stomach,  and  the  nuggars  carried  the  where- 
withal. Their  sails,  being  invariably  rotten,  were  blown  to 
pieces  in  the  Cataracts.  They  were  constantly  crashing  into 
the  rocks,  which  made  holes  in  them,  when  they  were  hauled 
by  main  force  to  the  shore,  where  a  dock  was  excavated  in 
the  sand  to  receive  them.  Here  they  were  repaired  and 
thence  dispatched  up  river. 

A  nuggar  would  come  sailing  along,  when  there  was  a 
sudden  crash,  the  bluejacket  at  the  helm  was  pitched  head- 
long into  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  while  the  sail  split  into 
ribbons,  and  the  native  crew  embraced  the  mast  crying  that 
Allah  was  great ! 

When  the  whale-boats  came  along,  their  passage  was  so 
arranged  that  a  regiment,  or  part  of  a  regiment,  was  kept 
together  ;  the  distribution  being  maintained  all  up  the  river, 
so  that  a  homogeneous  body  could  be  landed  at  any  moment 
for  attack  or  defence  if  necessary. 

So  furious  was  the  torrent,  that  whoso  fell  into  it  seldom 
rose  again,  unless  he  were  one  of  the  expert  Dongola  divers. 

The  men  coming  up  in  the  boats,  who  had  done  and 
suffered  much  before  reaching  Wady  Haifa,  had  repaired 
their  trousers  with  biscuit  tins.  I  overheard  the  following 
dialogue  between  one  of  these  tin-bottomed  weary  heroes 
and  a  comrade  on  the  bank  : 

"  Hullo,  Bill,  Jow  are  you  getting  on  ?  " 

"Me?  I've  been  pulling  on  this  here  ruddy  river  for 
about  two  years.  'Ow  far  is  it  to  Gemai  ?  " 

"  About  fifteen  miles,  mate." 

"  O  my  Gawd  !     Is  there  an  'orspital  there  ?  " 

Late  in  October,  the  voyageurs  arrived,  a  fine  body  of 
men,  380  strong. 

Being  acquainted  with  rapids  and  understanding  their 
navigation,  the  voyageurs  were  invaluable  in  bringing  the 
boats  through  the  long  and  difficult  reaches  of  the  Nile  up 
to  Wady  Haifa,  and  from  Wady  Haifa  up  to  Korti.  The 


THE  AUTHOR'S  METHOD  OF  HAULING  BOATS   THROUGH   THE   BAB-EL-KEBIR 
AA.  HAWSER;    BB.  HAULING  LINE;    c.  CILGUY  ;  j  AND  i.  MEN  HAULING;  H.  FIXED  POINT  ; 

G.    PURCHASE    FOR   SETTING   TAUT 
AFTER    A    DRAWING   MADE   ON   THE   SPOT    BY   THE   AUTHOR 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  231 

task  could  never  have  been  accomplished  in  the  time,  and 
the  losses  of  boats  would  have  been  heavier,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  voyageurs. 

As  the  boats  came  through  the  Bab  or  across  the  portage, 
the  voyageurs  took  charge  of  them  and  sailed  them  up  to 
Gemai.  Here  they  were  overhauled  and  fully  equipped,  the 
soldiers  were  embarked,  and  away  they  went  up  river. 

By  the  6th  November,  60  boats  had  left  Gemai  with 
the  Sussex  regiment  on  board.  The  river  was  then  falling 
so  swiftly  that  a  new  course  for  the  boats  must  be  found 
almost  every  day.  Hitherto  the  boats  had  been  passed 
through  the  Cataract  almost  without  a  scratch  or  the  loss  of 
a  single  article  of  gear.  Now  the  rocks  began  to  show 
through  the  surf  in  the  Bab. 

A  boat  was  smashed.  We  caught  her  lower  down ; 
and  with  200  men  portaged  her  over  a  rocky  hill,  across 
the  neck  of  land  formed  by  the  curve  of  the  Bab,  then 
laid  her  keel  upwards  across  two  other  boats,  and  so 
floated,  took  her  up  to  Gemai  dockyard.  I  was  the  more 
pleased  with  this  piece  of  salvage,  because  everyone  said 
it  was  impossible  to  save  the  boat  The  last  nine  boats, 
after  being  emptied  of  all  gear,  were  hauled  clean  over  the 
rocks  by  main  force.  They  came  prettily  lipping  through 
the  boiling  torrent  from  rock  to  rock,  taking  the  blows  upon 
keel  and  bilge  pieces,  so  that  they  were  scarcely  damaged. 

Early  in  October,  foreseeing  that,  as  the  water  fell,  the 
Bab-el-Kebir  would  become  impracticable,  I  had  designed  a 
scheme  for  a  portage.  The  alternative  would  have  been  to 
entrain  the  boats  from  Wady  Haifa  to  Sarras,  an  expedient 
which,  as  the  whole  of  the  train  service  was  required  to  carry 
provisions,  would  have  involved  immense  delay. 

My  plan  was  to  haul  the  boats  up  to  the  entrance  of  the 
Bab  and  then  to  carry  them  across  the  neck  of  land  formed 
by  the  curve  of  the  Bab,  a  distance  of  2488  yards,  which  re- 
quired 400  men,  who  should  be  divided  into  sections  of  40  to 
each  boat.  The  boat  was  hauled  on  shore,  her  masts,  oars, 
and  poles  laid  on  the  ground  to  serve  as  bearers  ;  the  boat  was 


232     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

laid  on  these  keel  uppermost,  and  was  then  lifted  and 
carried,  the  masts,  oars,  and  poles  resting  on  the  men's 
shoulders,  and  other  men  supporting  the  boat  by  resting 
thwarts  and  gunwale  on  their  shoulders.  My  scheme  was 
at  first  received  with  incredulity  by  all  except  Lord  Wolseley. 
But  I  made  a  trial  trip  with  30  men,  and  had  the  boat 
across  the  portage,  including  six  stoppages  for  rest,  and  in 
the  water  with  all  her  gear  without  a  scratch,  in  an  hour  and 
twenty  minutes.  The  passage  of  Bab-el-Kebir,  low  as  the 
water  had  become,  would  have  taken  at  least  six  hours,  with 
great  risk  of  disaster. 

Now,  having  hauled  the  last  nine  boats  through,  over 
the  rocks,  the  portage  scheme  came  into  operation;  and 
on  the  6th  November  I  closed  the  Bab,  and  used  the  portage, 
by  means  of  which  alone  it  was  made  possible  to  continue 
the  supply  of  boats  at  the  same  rate.  Thenceforward  we 
were  able  to  put  the  boats  through  quicker  than  they  were 
supplied. 

Many  of  the  boats  were  poisonous  to  handle,  as  their 
matting  was  infested  with  scorpions. 

My  dwelling  was  at  first  a  tent  at  Wady  Haifa,  and 
afterwards  a  hut  on  the  bank  beside  the  Bab-el-Kebir.  It 
stood  within  six  feet  of  the  roaring  river,  in  a  grove  of 
mimosa.  The  camels  lunched  daily  upon  the  long  sharp 
thorns  of  the  mimosa,  apparently  relishing  these  spines  as  a 
form  of  Worcester  sauce. 

Rising  at  daylight,  every  day  I  covered  some  thirty  miles 
up  and  down  the  shore  of  the  Cataract,  superintending 
operations  from  dawn  till  dark.  I  rode  one  of  my  camels, 
Bimbashi  or  Ballyhooly  or  Beelzebub,  or  my  donkey,  County 
Waterford,  so  named  because  the  second  time  I  contested 
him  I  lost  my  seat :  a  political  allegory.  Being  short  of  both 
officers  and  men,  my  presence  was  required  everywhere  at 
once.  By  haulage  and  portage  a  perpetual  procession  of 
whaleboats  and  nuggars  was  kept  moving  up  to  the  dock- 
yard at  Gemai. 

From  Wady  Haifa  to  the  Bab  the  Cataract  was  divided 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  233 

into  reaches,  a  post  being  stationed  at  each.  At  the  first 
reach  were  Peel  of  the  2nd  Life  Guards  and  200  Dongola 
men ;  at  the  Naval  Camp,  on  the  second  reach,  were 
Lieutenant  Colbourne  and  350  Dongola  men;  at  Palm 
Tree  Camp,  in  the  third  reach,  were  an  Egyptian  officer  and 
100  Dongola  men ;  for  the  portage  at  Bab-el-Kebir  I  had 
500  men  of  the  2nd  Egyptian  battalion  under  their  colonel, 
and  another  of  their  officers,  Shakespeare  of  the  Marines, 
who  had  been  with  me  in  the  Thunderer.  All  along  the 
Cataract  were  stationed  small  parties  of  carpenters  and 
sailmakers  in  order  that  damages  should  be  repaired  on  the 
spot.  Living  with  me  was  Colonel  Grant,  who  was  in 
command  of  all  the  Dongola  men.  Later,  the  Canadian 
voyageurs  camped  beside  my  hut. 

By  means  of  the  distribution  of  work,  each  section  being 
placed  under  a  responsible  officer,  progress  speedily  became 
three  times  as  fast.  Officers  and  men  worked  magnificently. 
I  was  proud  of  the  old  Navy. 

The  routine  for  the  bluejackets  was :  Turn  out  4.30  a.m., 
breakfast;  walk  seven  to  ten  miles  through  the  desert  along 
the  river,  often  having  to  retrace  their  steps  to  help  a  boat 
in  distress;  work  all  day  till  sunset,  no  spell  for  dinner, 
which  consisted  of  biscuit ;  at  sunset,  walk  seven  miles  back 
to  camp,  supper  and  turn  in.  The  officers  walked  with  the 
men,  giving  their  camels  to  the  men  who  suffered  from  sore 
feet.  Officers  and  men  were  burned  as  black  as  the  natives. 

Until  my  arrival,  the  nine  naval  officers  and  the  doctor 
had  been  living  at  the  Naval  Camp  nine  miles  from  Wady 
Haifa,  without  a  single  servant  or  a  cook.  They  were 
allowed  neither  servants  nor  the  money  with  which  to  hire 
natives.  But  nothing  could  exceed  the  kindness  and  good- 
will of  General  Buller,  who  at  once  granted  all  my  requests, 
and  if  I  found  it  necessary  to  order  first  and  report  after- 
wards, sanctioned  my  requisitions. 

I  had  with  me  in  my  hut  for  a  time  F.  H.  Pollen,  who 
could  dive  and  swim  better  than  the  Dongola  men,  using 
like  them  a  blown-up  goatskin.  The  constant  immersion 


234     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

brought  on  an  attack  of  dysentery.  I  kept  him  in  bed, 
taking  away  his  clothes  so  that  he  could  not  get  up,  and 
doctored  him  till  he  recovered. 

At  this  time  I  acted  as  doctor  to  the  men  under  me. 
Every  case  of  sickness  was  reported  to  me  at  once.  If  the 
patient  suffered  from  diarrhoea  I  exhibited  castor  oil.  A 
petty  officer  having  been  thus  treated,  said  he  felt  easier.  I 
asked  him  if  he  would  like  another  dose,  and  he  said  he 
would  like  it.  The  same  night  he  died.  I  sent  his  body  on 
a  camel  to  the  nearest  medical  officer,  who  found  seventeen 
date-stones  in  his  stomach.  I  had  the  sorry  consolation  of 
knowing  that  the  poor  fellow  must  have  died  in  any  event. 

On  the  1 7th  November,  Lord  Wolseley,  returning  from 
Dongola,  arrived  suddenly  at  Wady  Haifa,  where  he  re- 
mained for  twenty-four  hours,  afterwards  returning  to 
Dongola.  All  we  knew  was  that  he  had  come  to  press 
matters  forward.  History  relates  how  that  on  the  I7th 
November,  Wolseley  received  a  letter  from  Gordon  dated 
4th  November,  in  which  Gordon  wrote :  "  We  can  hold  out 
forty  days  with  ease ;  after  that  it  will  be  difficult."  In 
reply  Wolseley  telegraphed  from  Wady  Haifa :  "  Yours  of 
4th  just  received  I7th ;  the  first  I  have  had  from  you.  I 
shall  be  at  Kasr  Dongola  in  four  days."  Wolseley  at  the 
same  time  informed  Lord  Hartington  that  while  the  news 
would  not  affect  his  plans,  it  seemed  to  show  that  Gordon's 
relief  could  not  be  accomplished  without  fighting. 

Lord  Wolseley  made  no  announcement  on  the  subject 
at  the  time,  merely  telling  General  Buller  and  myself  that 
we  were  to  stay  where  we  were  for  the  present.  Our 
impression  was  that  Wolseley  had  abandoned  the  idea  of 
making  a  dash  across  the  desert  from  Korti  to  Metemmeh. 

At  that  date,  I7th  November,  we  had  more  than  200 
boats  ready  to  embark  troops  at  Gemai,  from  which  twenty 
to  thirty  boats  were  being  dispatched  daily.  Nearly  200 
boats  had  already  gone,  carrying  detachments  of  the  Essex, 
Stafford,  and  Cornwall  Regiments,  the  Engineers,  and 
Commissariat.  About  200  more  boats  had  still  to  pass  the 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  235 

Cataract.  I  was  very  pleased  with  the  work  and  behaviour 
of  the  2nd  battalion  of  the  Egyptian  Army,  which  was 
working  the  portage.  I  expressed  my  satisfaction  to  them, 
and  gave  every  man  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  native  tobacco, 
whereupon  they  declared  with  one  voice  that,  "  if  God  was 
willing,  they  would  go  to  hell  with  my  Excellency." 

At  about  this  time  I  received  a  private  intimation  from 
Lord  Wolseley  that,  when  the  general  advance  began,  he 
intended  to  place  me  in  command  of  a  naval  brigade. 

By  22nd  November,  549  boats  had  been  passed  through 
the  Second  Cataract,  166  of  which  had  been  hauled  through 
the  Bab-el-Kebir,  the  rest  portaged.  Of  the  whole  number 
of  boats,  only  three  were  smashed ;  and  very  few  received 
any  damage.  Accidents  were  few,  although  the  work  was 
dangerous.  On  2ist  November  a  voyageur  was  drowned. 
Three  voyageurs  went  overboard,  and  two  were  saved  by 
catching  hold  of  a  rope.  The  third  scorned  the  rope,  relying 
upon  his  ability  to  swim,  and  was  never  seen  again.  Up 
to  that  date  five  men  altogether  had  been  drowned,  two 
soldiers,  two  Canadians,  and  one  native.  Later,  another 
native,  and  he  an  Esneh  swimmer,  was  drowned.  The 
river  was  extraordinarily  fatal.  Not  one  man  who  went 
under  upon  falling  overboard  was  saved.  The  natives 
always  used  to  do  their  best  to  keep  on  the  surface. 

Lord  Wolseley  was  so  good  as  warmly  to  commend  the 
work  done  on  the  Second  Cataract ;  and  Sir  Redvers  Duller, 
who  at  first  declared  the  portage  scheme  to  be  impossible 
of  execution,  generously  expressed  his  appreciation  of  its 
success. 

Having  shot  a  little  alligator,  I  skinned  it  myself.  The 
Arab  camel-man  in  my  service,  who  spoke  French,  argued 
with  me  in  that  language  for  a  long  time  that  an  alligator 
had  no  tongue,  but  fed  by  suction,  like  a  snipe.  As  I  had 
cut  out  the  tongue  of  my  little  alligator,  I  knew  it  had  one ; 
but  my  Arabian  naturalist  refused  to  be  persuaded. 

At  this  time  and  afterwards  while  I  was  in  Egypt,  my 
servant,  interpreter  and  cook  was  the  excellent  Jos6  Salvatro, 


236     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

a  Maltese.  If  he  happened  to  be  absent,  I  conveyed  my 
instructions  to  the  natives  through  my  French-speaking 
camel-man,  in  French.  Between  my  French  and  his  French 
and  his  Arabic,  I  used  to  wonder  how  the  meaning  filtered 
through ;  but  I  have  a  note  in  my  diary  that  "  it  comes 
all  right,  the  natives  are  cheery  fellows  and  work  capitally 
with  me,  and  a  good  smack  upon  the  '  sit-upon '  of  a  lazy 
one  keeps  the  whole  lot  going." 

Towards  the  end  of  November  I  was  living  alone  in  my 
hut  on  the  Bab-el-Kebir,  attended  only  by  a  bluejacket  and 
the  faithful  Jose*,  who  ceased  not  from  scrubbing  and 
washing,  so  that  I  was  never  a  day  without  clean  things,  an 
inestimable  comfort  in  that  climate.  Here  I  was  haunted  by 
an  Arab  maniac  who  dwelt  in  some  indiscoverable  antre  of 
the  rocks.  At  night  I  heard  him  howling  to  himself.  In 
the  daytime,  he  ran  here  and  there,  his  only  garment  being 
the  dust  he  cast  upon  his  shaven  head,  crying  upon  Allah. 
He  ate  sand  and  offal,  a  diet  which  left  him  hungry,  for  he 
would  come  to  my  tent  for  food,  which  I  gave  him.  He 
seemed  to  know  me  in  a  vague  way.  I  gave  him  some 
calico  to  cover  his  nakedness  withal,  but  he  tore  the  stuff 
into  fragments  and  ate  them.  One  day  he  rushed  into  my 
tent,  clawed  some  mutton-broth  out  of  the  cooking-pot  with 
his  horrible  hands  and  crammed  it  boiling  hot  into  his 
mouth.  I  was  obliged  forcibly  to  eject  him  lest  he  should 
take  the  whole;  but  I  had  no  stomach  for  the  rest.  My 
fear  was  lest  he  should  burst  in  at  night  and  I  should  be 
obliged  in  self-defence  to  shoot  him.  Eventually,  Jose 
lost  patience,  seized  a  huge  wood-axe,  and  chased  the 
maniac  for  a  mile.  The  poor  wretch  ran  like  a  hare  and 
vanished  into  his  hole  in  the  rocks. 

I  made  a  match  with  Colonel  Brocklehurst,  head  of  the 
Remount  Department,  to  ride  my  camel,  the  bold  Bimbashi, 
against  any  one  of  Brocklehurst's  camels,  for  £25.  The  course 
was  six  miles  long  across  the  desert,  from  Peel's  Camp  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Cataract  to  Sir  Evelyn  Wood's  flag- 
staff at  Wady  Haifa.  Brocklehurst's  rider  was  his  interpreter, 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  237 

a  lean  rat  of  an  Arab  Sheikh,  who  was  absolutely  certain  he 
would  win.  His  camel  was  the  favourite  of  Wood's  mess 
and  was  reputed  to  be  the  best  in  Egypt.  The  betting 
was  fifty  to  one  against  me.  But  I  had  been  riding 
Bimbashi  30  miles  or  so  a  day,  and  we  were  both  in  fine 
hard  condition. 

The  Sheikh  started  at  a  gallop.  First  his  turban,  then 
his  goatskin  saddle-rug,  carried  away.  Both  rider  and 
camel  were  blowing  and  perspiring  ere  they  had  run  three 
miles.  For  the  first  two  and  a  half  miles  I  waited  on  the 
Sheikh,  then  came  away  and  won  in  a  canter  half  a  mile 
ahead.  At  the  finish  the  troops  lined  up  and  made  a 
course  for  us.  Thus  I  won  my  first  camel  race,  owner 
up.  No  one  was  better  pleased  than  my  old  friend  Colonel 
Brocklehurst. 

Bimbashi  (according  to  my  journal)  covered  the  six  miles 
in  a  little  over  eighteen  minutes.  That  gallant  steed  had 
already  been  ridden  the  nine  miles  from  my  camp  to  the 
starting-point ;  and  when  I  rode  him  back  in  the  evening, 
he  was  so  fresh  that  he  ran  away  with  me,  grumbling  loudly, 
because  he  was  offended  at  the  sight  of  a  dead  donkey 
lying  wrong  side  up  beside  the  railway. 

I  invented  a  saddle  for  camels,  and  I  believe  the  pattern 
is  still  in  use.  The  saddle-tree  is  a  triangular  wooden 
framework,  like  the  gable  of  a  roof.  I  covered  the  wood 
with  oakum  and  canvas;  abolished  all  buckles,  made  the 
girths  and  stirrups  of  raw  hide  thongs,  and  put  the  stirrups 
forward,  instead  of  behind.  Count  Gleichen,  in  his  interest- 
ing book,  With  t/te  Camel  Corps  up  the  Nile,  relates  how  the 
saddles  and  equipment  served  out  to  the  Camel  Corps  gave 
the  men  infinite  trouble  and  discomfort.  The  unseasoned 
wood  came  to  pieces,  the  straps  broke,  the  water-skins  and 
water-bottles  leaked ;  but  one  instance  of  the  departmental 
mismanagement  which  caused  our  men  so  much  unnecessary 
suffering. 

By  the  end  of  November,  the  river  was  falling  so 
swiftly  that  what  was  smooth  water  yesterday  was  to-day  a 


238     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

frivolous  series  of  waterfalls  with  a  twist  in  them.  Every 
alteration  in  the  river  involved  a  new  device  for  haulage, 
and  it  would  alter  at  three  or  four  places  in  a  mile,  and 
there  were  n  miles  of  rapids.  I  was  generally  able  to 
judge  by  the  look  of  the  water  when  and  where  it  would 
change  its  course  during  the  next  few  hours.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  least  delay,  new  arrangements  must  be  devised 
beforehand ;  and  my  mind  was  so  absorbed  in  these 
schemes,  that  I  dreamed  of  them  nightly.  By  that  time  I 
had  1400  men  working  under  me,  whose  work  must  be 
organised,  and  stations  allocated.  The  Bab-el-Kebir,  that 
formidable  rapid,  was  now  a  grazing  ground  for  goats. 

I  shifted  my  quarters  from  the  Bab  to  Wady  Haifa,  as 
the  difficulties  were  now  all  at  that  end  of  the  Cataract. 
Peel  and  Colbourne,  in  command  respectively  of  the  next 
two  reaches,  found  no  day  too  long  and  no  work  too  hard. 

In  order  to  supervise  the  whole  length  of  the  operations 
as  quickly  as  possible,  I  kept  one  camel,  Ballyhooly,  at  the 
Bab;  the  big  white  donkey  County  Waterford  half-way 
there;  and  Bimbashi  the  bold  and  Beelzebub  at  Wady 
Haifa.  Bimbashi  could  trot  16  miles  in  the  hour.  A 
Bedouin  Sheikh  offered  me  £35  for  him.  As  I  had  bought 
him  for  £24  I  concluded  that  his  vender  had  stolen  him. 
I  won  more  than  his  price  in  the  race  with  Colonel  Brockle- 
hurst's  Sheikh.  While  at  Wady  Haifa  I  rode  him  six  miles 
out  in  the  heavy  sand  against  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  and  his 
A.D.C.,  who  rode  horses,  and  Bimbashi  beat  the  horses 
fair  and  square. 

Lord  Wolseley  sent  me  a  telegram  ordering  me  to 
form  a  naval  brigade  of  100  men  and  10  officers.  But  as 
the  bluejackets  were  of  inestimable  service  in  getting  the 
remainder  of  the  boats  through  the  Cataract,  and  fitting 
them  out  at  Gemai,  where  the  soldiers  embarked,  he  desired 
to  keep  them  where  they  were  as  long  as  possible.  On  2?th 
November,  we  hoped  to  get  all  the  boats  through  during  the 
next  five  days.  Up  to  that  date — the  last  for  which  I  have  a 
note — 687  boats  had  been  passed  through  the  Cataract,  with 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  239 

a  loss  of  4  only  ;  about  27  men  of  all  sorts  had  been  drowned ; 
and  337  boats  had  left  Gemai  with  troops  and  stores. 

On  6th  December  the  last  boat  was  passed  through. 
On  the  same  day,  Sir  Evelyn  Wood  and  Sir  Redvers  Buller 
received  a  telegram  reporting  a  block  of  boats  at  Ambigol 
and  Dal  Cataract ;  and  I  was  ordered  there  at  a  moment's 
notice. 

On  27th  September  I  had  arrived  at  Wady  Haifa;  on 
loth  October  I  schemed  the  portage;  and  for  eight  weeks 
since  that  date  I  had  been  continuously  hard  at  work  passing 
the  boats  through  the  Second  Cataract ;  which  the  Arabs 
call  "  the  belly  of  stone." 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE   SOUDAN   WAR  (Continued} 
III.  UP  THE  CATARACTS  AND  ACROSS  THE  DESERT 

"To  Assiout,  in  a  cloud  of  dust 

We  came,  and  it  made  us  smile, 
To  see  each  other's  features,  till 
We  washed  them  in  the  Nile. 
From  there,  by  boat,  to  Assouan 

We  came,  and  every  night 
Made  fast,  for  the  boatmen  wouldn't  steam 

Excepting  in  daylight." 
Sengs  of  the  Camel  Corps  (Sergt.  H.  EAGLB,  R.M.C.C.) 

ON  the  6th  December,  1884,  Peel  and  Colbourne,  my 
two  gallant  comrades  who  had  done  so  splendid  a 
work  upon  the  Second  Cataract,  quitted  the  Belly  of 
Stone,  embarking  in  two  boats  manned  by  Kroomen.  The 
names  of  these  big  black  men  were  Africa,  Ginger  Red, 
Bottled  Beer,  Sampson,  Two  Glasses  and  Been- Very- 1 11- 
Twice ;  and  when  they  were  excited,  as  they  nearly  always 
were,  they  took  to  the  English  tongue,  and  kept  us  laughing 
for  a  week.  When  the  wind  was  fair  and  we  sailed  up 
against  the  rapids,  the  Kroo  boys  were  terribly  anxious, 
knowing  that  if  the  wind  failed  we  should  slide  all  the  way 
back  again. 

By  this  time  the  whole  expedition  was  moving  up  river. 
The  conduct  of  the  soldiers  was  magnificent,  achieving 
wonderful  results.  Of  the  sailors,  accustomed  to  the  work, 
and  knowing  the  shortest  way  of  doing  things,  one  expected 
much — and  got  even  more.  It  was  hard  enough  for  the 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  241 

seamen.  Although  they,  the  soldiers,  knew  nothing  of  boats, 
they  worked  like  heroes.  And  the  navigation  of  the  Nile 
from  Gemai  to  Dal  enforced  hard  continuous  toil  from  dawn 
to  dark  day  after  day.  The  voyageurs  did  splendid  service ; 
the  expedition  could  not  have  advanced  so  rapidly  without 
them ;  and  although  they  knew  nothing  of  sails,  being  acute 
adventurous  fellows  they  soon  picked  up  enough  knowledge 
to  carry  them  through. 

An  officer  of  cavalry  in  charge  of  a  convoy  of  stores  on 
the  river  worked  by  Dongola  men,  describing  his  adventures 
with  what  he  called  his  "peasant  crews,"  pathetically  ob- 
served :  "  You  know,  I  know  nothing  whatever  about  a  boat, 
or  what  it  ought  to  do,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  tell  you 
that  the  whole  time  I  am  sweating  with  terror.  And  every 
night  when  I  go  to  bed  I  dream  of  whirlpools  and  boiling 
rapids  and  then  I  dream  that  I  am  drowned." 

But  his  visions  of  the  night  affected  neither  his  nerve  nor 
his  indomitable  energy. 

Our  daily  routine  along  the  river  began  at  4.30 :  all  hands 
turn  out,  make  up  tent  (if  there  were  one),  breakfast,  and 
start,  sailing  or  tracking  or  rowing  according  to  the  state 
of  the  river.  But  whether  you  sailed  or  tracked  or  rowed, 
before  long  the  river  changed  and  you  must  row  instead  of 
track,  or  sail  instead  of  row.  Then  you  would  come  to  a 
difficult  place,  and  you  would  heave  the  cargo  on  shore,  and 
get  the  empty  boat  up  a  fall  or  a  heavy  rush  of  water,  and 
portage  the  cargo  on  to  the  boat.  So  on  to  midday,  when 
an  hour  was  allowed  for  dinner;  then  at  it  again,  sailing, 
tracking,  rowing,  in  and  out  cargo,  till  sundown.  Then  haul 
into  the  bank  and  eat  bully  beef  without  vegetables.  After 
supper,  roll  in  a  blanket  and  sleep  on  the  soft  sand  the  pro- 
found and  delicious  slumber  of  weary  men. 

Occasionally  a  boat  would  strike  a  rock ;  or  at  rare 
intervals  an  accident  would  happen,  and  part  of  a  crew  would 
be  lost,  and  the  boat's  gear  swept  away ;  or  a  hole  would  be 
knocked  in  the  boat,  when  she  would  be  emptied  of  gear  and 
cargo,  hauled  up,  and  patched.  Under  these  circumstances, 
VOL.  i. — 16 


242     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

the  boats  often  made  no  more  than  three  or  four  miles' 
advance  in  a  day.  Overloaded  as  were  many  of  the  boats, 
they  served  their  purpose  admirably  well. 

At  the  big  Cataracts  were  stationed  working  parties, 
which  emptied  the  boats  of  gear  and  cargo,  portaged  them 
overland,  and  hauled  the  boats  through  the  rapids. 

So  we  struggled  up  the  broad  and  rushing  river  from 
Gemai  to  Dal,  sailing  and  towing  and  rowing,  capsized  and 
righting  again.  And  one  night  a  sandstorm  waltzed  out  of 
the  desert  and  blew  away  our  tent  and  with  it  knives,  forks, 
slippers,  lamp,  candles,  matches  and  everything.  And  the 
next  morning  Peel  dropped  his  knife,  and  in  trying  to  save 
it  he  upset  our  whole  breakfast  of  sardines  and  coffee  into 
Colbourne's  boots.  And  half  my  kit  was  stolen,  and  I  was 
reduced  to  one  broken  pair  of  boots,  and  the  natives  stole 
my  tooth  powder  and  baked  bread  with  it.  And  we  had 
boils  all  over  us  like  the  man  in  the  Bible,  because  every 
little  scratch  was  poisoned  by  the  innumerable  flies  of  Egypt. 
But  we  were  so  busy  that  nothing  mattered. 

Fighting  every  mile  of  the  great  river  pouring  down  from 
Khartoum,  we  on  the  Cataracts  had  no  news  of  Gordon.  All 
we  knew  was  that  there  was  need  to  hurry,  hurry  all  the  way. 
At  such  times  as  the  mail  from  home  arrived  upon  a  dyspeptic 
camel,  we  got  scraps  of  news  of  home  affairs.  People  who 
knew  much  more  than  Lord  Wolseley,  were  saying  he  ought 
to  have  taken  the  Souakim-Berber  route  instead  of  the  Nile 
route.  I  said  then,  as  I  say  now,  he  had  no  choice.  At  this 
time  of  crisis,  when  the  Navy  was  dangerously  inadequate, 
one  political  party  was  screaming  denunciations  against 
"  legislation  by  panic."  Encouraging  to  sailors  and  soldiers 
sweating  on  service !  But  we  knew  what  to  expect.  I 
observe  that  in  a  private  letter  written  in  December,  1884, 
from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  at  the  end  of  a  long  day's  work 
with  the  boats,  I  said,  "  Both  sides  are  equally  to  blame  for 

the  defective  state  of  the  Navy.  Tell and not  to 

be  unpatriotic  and  make  the  Navy  a  party  question,  or 
they  will  not  do  half  the  good  they  might." 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  243 

We  came  to  Ambigol  to  find  the  boats  had  been  cleared 
by  Alleyne  of  the  Artillery.  I  was  able  to  improve  the 
organisation  there,  and  to  give  help  along  the  river.  I  was 
in  time  to  save  three  boats.  At  Dal,  I  laid  lines  along  the 
centre  of  the  two  and  a  half  miles  rapid,  so  that  in  calm 
weather  the  boats  could  haul  themselves  through. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Naval  Brigade  of  which  Lord 
Wolseley  had  ordered  me  to  take  command,  had  been 
selected,  at  my  request,  by  Captain  Boardman. 

On  1 9th  December,  my  first  division  came  to  Dal.  Up 
they  came,  all  together  in  line  ahead,  under  all  possible  sail, 
using  the  boat  awnings  as  spinnakers.  They  had  sailed  up 
the  rapids  where  the  other  boats  were  tracking;  and  the 
soldiers  cheered  them  as  they  went  by.  There  was  not  a 
scratch  on  any  boat,  nor  a  drop  of  water  in  any  of  them. 
Every  cargo  was  complete  in  detail,  including  machine  guns, 
ammunition,  oil  and  stores.  Had  I  not  a  right  to  be  proud 
of  the  seamen  ?  I  put  an  officer  at  the  helm  of  each  boat, 
and  told  them  to  follow  me  through  Dal  Cataract ;  and  led 
them  through,  so  that  the  same  night  the  boats  were  reloaded 
with  the  gear  and  cargo  which  had  been  portaged,  and  were 
going  on.  The  passage  of  Dal  Cataract  usually  occupied 
three  days. 

I  sent  on  the  first  division,  and  stayed  at  Dal  to 
await  the  arrival  of  the  second,  in  order  to  get  all  my  men 
together.  As  it  happened,  I  did  not  see  it  until  it  reached 
Korti.  On  2ist  December  it  had  left  Sarras,  bringing  oil 
and  stores  to  be  used  in  the  Nile  steamers  of  which  I  was 
to  take  charge.  For  by  this  time  I  had  been  informed  of 
Lord  Wolseley's  intention  to  send  the  Naval  Brigade  with 
the  Camel  Corps  to  make  a  dash  across  the  Bayuda  Desert 
to  Metemmeh.  The  Naval  Brigade  was  then  to  attack 
Khartoum  in  Gordon's  steamers,  while  the  Camel  Corps 
attacked  it  by  land. 

So  I  remained  yet  a  little  while  at  Dal,  helping  the 
boats  through  the  Cataract,  and  camping  in  the  sand.  I 
found  a  baby  scorpion  two  and  a  half  inches  long  in  my 


244     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

handkerchief.  The  officer  whose  tent  was  next  to  mine, 
shared  it  with  a  sand-rat,  which  used  to  fill  his  slippers  with 
dhura  grains  every  night,  and  which  jumped  on  and  off  my 
knee  when  I  breakfasted  with  my  friend.  Actually  there 
came  two  or  three  days  when  I  had  nothing  to  do ;  and 
when  I  could  take  a  hot  bath  in  peace,  with  the  luxury  of  a 
cake  of  carbolic  soap,  and  sit  in  my  little  canvas  chair,  which 
was,  however,  speedily  stolen. 

My  poor  servant  Jose  was  suddenly  taken  with  so  sharp 
an  attack  of  fever  that  he  was  stricken  helpless  and  could 
hardly  lift  a  cup  to  his  lips.  His  pulse  was  going  like  a 
machine  gun.  He  was  too  ill  to  be  moved  on  mule-back  to 
the  hospital,  which  was  eight  miles  distant ;  and  I  had  to 
doctor  him  myself.  I  gave  him  castor-oil,  deprived  him  of 
all  food  for  twenty-four  hours,  gave  him  five  grains  of 
quinine  every  two  hours,  and  plenty  of  lime-juice  to  drink ; 
and  he  was  soon  well  again. 

Lord  Avonmore,  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  Alleyne,  Captain 
Burnaby  and  myself  subscribed  to  a  Christmas  dinner  of 
extraordinary  charm,  eaten  with  the  Guards.  The  menu 
was : — soup  made  of  bully  beef,  onions,  rice  and  boiled 
biscuit,  fish  from  the  Nile,  stewed  bully  beef  and  chicken 
a  la  as-if-they-had-been-trained-for-long-distance-races-for-a- 
year,  entremet  of  biscuit  and  jam.  Rum  to  drink. 

I  should  have  missed  that  feast,  and  should  have  been 
on  the  way  to  Korti  post-haste  several  days  before  Christmas, 
had  it  not  been  that  a  telegram  sent  by  Lord  Wolseley  to 
me  had  been  delayed  in  transmission.  On  27th  December 
I  received  an  urgent  telegram  from  General  Buller,  asking 
where  I  was  and  what  I  was  doing.  A  week  previously 
Lord  Wolseley  had  telegraphed  instructions  that  I  was  to 
proceed  to  Korti  with  all  speed  to  arrive  with  the  first 
division  of  the  Naval  Brigade.  Having  received  no  orders, 
I  was  waiting  for  the  second  division  so  that  I  might  see  that 
it  was  complete  and  satisfactory.  (It  arrived  at  Dal  the  day 
after  I  left  that  place  in  obedience  to  General  Buller's 
orders.) 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  245 

From  Dal  to  Korti,  as  the  crow  flies,  is  some  200  miles 
to  the  southward  ;  following  up  the  river,  which,  with  many 
windings,  flows  north  from  Korti,  the  distance  is  more  than 
half  as  much  again.  I  was  already  (by  no  fault  of  mine)  a 
week  behind  ;  my  instructions  were  to  proceed  by  the  shortest 
possible  route  by  the  quickest  possible  means,  camels  or 
steam  pinnace ;  and  immediately  I  received  General  Buller's 
telegram  I  dashed  off  to  the  Commissariat.  Here  I  obtained 
four  camels  to  carry  Jose",  myself  and  my  kit  to  the  nearest 
point  at  which  I  could  catch  a  steam  pinnace  on  the  river. 
Also,  by  riding  the  first  stage  of  the  journey,  I  could  avoid 
two  wide  bends  of  the  Nile.  The  camels  were  but  baggage 
animals ;  they  all  had  sore  backs ;  and  I  could  get  no 
proper  saddle.  I  strapped  my  rug  on  the  wooden  frame- 
work. We  started  the  same  evening  at  seven  o'clock. 

The  night  had  fallen  when  we  left  behind  us  the  stir  of 
the  armed  camp  and  plunged  into  the  deep  stillness  of  the 
desert.  The  brilliant  moonlight  sharply  illumined  the  low 
rocky  hills,  and  the  withered  scrub,  near  and  far ;  the  hard 
gravelly  track  stretched  plainly  before  us;  and  the  camels 
went  noiselessly  forward  on  their  great  padded  feet.  So, 
hour  after  hour.  It  was  one  o'clock  upon  the  following 
morning  (2ist  December)  when  we  rode  into  a  dark  and 
silent  village.  Lighting  upon  an  empty  hut,  we  crawled 
into  it,  cooked  a  little  supper,  and  went  to  sleep. 

Before  daylight  we  were  awakened  by  the  noise  of  voices 
crying  and  quarrelling;  and  there  were  two  black  negresses  up- 
braiding us,  and  beyond  them  was  a  group  of  agitated  natives. 
It  appeared  that  we  were  desecrating  the  village  mosque. 
Having  soothed  the  inhabitants,  we  started.  That  day  we 
rode  from  6  a.m.  to  7.30  p.m.  with  a  halt  of  an  hour  and  a 
half  at  midday,  travelling  40  miles  in  twelve  hours,  good 
going  for  baggage  camels  with  sore  backs.  By  that  time  I 
was  getting  sore,  too.  We  slept  that  night  at  Absarat, 
started  the  next  morning  (29th  December)  at  8.30,  and  rode 
to  Abu  Fatmeh,  arriving  at  4  p.m.  Starting  next  morning 
at  nine  o'clock,  we  arrived  at  Kaibur  at  5  p.m.  Here,  to  my 


246     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

intense  relief,  we  picked  up  Colville  and  his  steam  pinnace, 
in  which  we  instantly  embarked  for  Korti. 

During  the  last  three  days  and  a  half  we  had  been  thirty- 
two  hours  in  the  saddle  (which,  strictly  speaking,  my  camel 
had  not)  and  a  part  of  my  anatomy  was  quite  worn  away.  I 
lay  down  in  the  pinnace  and  hoped  to  become  healed. 

We  did  not  know  it ;  but  the  same  evening,  General  Sir 
Herbert  Stewart's  Desert  Column  left  Korti  upon  the  great 
forced  march  of  the  forlorn  hope. 

The  pinnace,  whose  furnaces  were  burning  wood,  most  of 
which  was  wet  and  green,  pounded  slowly  up  river  until  we 
met  the  steamer  Nassifara,  into  which  I  transferred  myself. 
Blissful  was  the  rest  in  that  steamer  after  my  two  months' 
tremendous  toil  getting  the  boats  through  the  Bab-el-Kebir 
and  the  long  ride  across  the  desert  So  I  lay  in  the  steamer 
and  lived  on  the  height  of  diet,  fresh  meat,  milk,  butter  and 
eggs,  till  my  tunic  hardly  held  me.  I  did  not  then  know 
why  Lord  Wolseley  had  sent  for  me  in  so  great  a  hurry. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE   SOUDAN   WAR  (Continued] 

IV.  THE  FIRST  MARCH  OF  THE  DESERT  COLUMN 

NOTE 

BY  the  end  of  December,  1884,  the  whole  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  in  process  of  concentrating  at  Korti.  At 
Korti  the  Nile  fetches  a  wide  arc  north-eastward.  The 
chord  of  the  arc,  running  south-eastward,  runs  from  Korti 
to  Metemmeh,  and  Shendi,  which  stands  on  the  farther,  or 
east,  bank.  From  Korti  to  Metemmeh  is  176  miles  across 
the  desert.  Shendi  was  the  rendezvous  at  which  the  troops 
were  to  meet  Gordon's  steamers  sent  down  by  him  from 
Khartoum.  Wolseley's  object  in  sending  Lord  Charles 
Beresford  with  the  Naval  Brigade  was  that  he  should  take 
command  of  the  steamers,  which,  filled  with  troops,  were  to 
proceed  up  to  Khartoum.  The  first  business  of  the  Desert 
Column  under  General  Sir  Herbert  Stewart,  was  to  seize 
the  wells  of  Jakdul,  which  lay  100  miles  distant  from  Korti, 
and  to  hold  them,  thus  securing  the  main  water  supply  on  the 
desert  route  and  an  intermediate  station  between  Metemmeh 
and  the  base  at  Korti.  Having  obtained  possession  of  the 
wells,  the  Guards'  Battalion  was  to  be  left  there,  while  the 
remainder  of  the  Column  returned  to  Korti,  there  to  be 
sufficiently  reinforced  to  return  to  Jakdul,  and  to  complete 
the  march  to  Metemmeh.  Such  was  the  original  idea.  The 
reason  why  sufficient  troops  and  transport  were  not  sent  in 
the  first  instance,  thereby  avoiding  the  necessity  of  the  return 


248     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

of  the  greater  part  of  the  Column  to  Korti,  and  its  second 
march  with  the  reinforcements,  seems  to  have  been  the 
scarcity  of  camels. 

When  the  Desert  Column  made  its  first  march,  Lord 
Charles  Beresford  and  the  Naval  Brigade  were  still  on  their 
way  to  Korti.  The  first  division  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Charles  marched  with  the  Desert  Column  on  its  return. 

The  first  Desert  Column  numbered  73  officers,  1212  men 
and  natives,  and  2091  camels.  It  consisted  of  one  squadron 
of  the  ipth  Hussars,  Guards'  Camel  Regiment,  Mounted 
Infantry,  Engineers,  1357  camels  carrying  stores  and  driven 
by  natives,  Medical  Staff  Corps,  and  Bearer  Company. 
Personal  luggage  was  limited  to  40  Ib.  a  man.  An  account 
of  the  march  is  given  by  Count  Gleichen,  in  his  pleasant  and 
interesting  book  (to  which  the  present  writer  is  much  in- 
debted) With  tJie  Camel  Corps  up  the  Nile  (Chapman  & 
Hall).  Some  years  previously  the  route  from  Korti  to 
Metemmeh  had  been  surveyed  by  Ismail  Pasha,  who  had 
intended  to  run  a  railway  along  it  from  Wady  Haifa  to 
Khartoum ;  and  the  map  then  made  of  the  district  was  in 
possession  of  the  Column.  The  enemy  were  reported  to  be 
about ;  but  it  was  expected  that  they  would  be  found  beyond 
the  Jakdul  Wells ;  as  indeed  they  were. 

The  Desert  Column  started  from  Korti  on  the  afternoon 
of  Tuesday,  3Oth  December,  1884.  The  Hussars  escorted 
a  party  of  native  guides  and  scouted  ahead.  The  Column 
marched  the  whole  of  that  night,  in  the  light  of  a  brilliant 
moon,  across  hard  sand  or  gravel,  amid  low  hills  of  black 
rock,  at  whose  bases  grew  long  yellow  savas  grass  and 
mimosa  bushes,  and  in  places  mimosa  trees. 

At  8.30  on  the  morning  of  the  3ist  December  they 
halted  until  3  p.m.,  marched  till  8.30  p.m.,  found  the  wells 
of  Abu  Hashim  nearly  dry,  marched  on,  ascending  a  stony 
tableland,  and  still  marching,  sang  the  New  Year  in  at 
midnight;  came  to  the  wells  of  El  Howeiyat,  drank  them 
dry  and  bivouacked  until  6  a.m.  on  the  morning  of  the  ist 
January,  1885. 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  249 

All  that  morning  they  marched,  coming  at  midday  to  a 
plain  covered  with  scrub  and  intersected  with  dry  water- 
courses ;  rested  for  three  hours ;  marched  all  that  night,  and 
about  7  a.m.  on  the  morning  of  2nd  January,  entered  the 
defile,  floored  with  large  loose  stones  and  closed  in  with 
steep  black  hills,  leading  to  the  wells  of  Jakdul.  These  are 
deep  pools  filling  clefts  in  the  rock  of  the  hills  encompassing 
the  little  valley,  three  reservoirs  rising  one  above  the  other. 
Count  Gleichen,  who  was  the  first  man  to  climb  to  the  upper 
pools,  thus  describes  the  middle  pool. 

"Eighty  feet  above  my  head  towered  an  overhanging 
precipice  of  black  rock ;  behind  me  rose  another  of  the  same 
height ;  at  the  foot  of  the  one  in  front  lay  a  beautiful,  large 
ice-green  pool,  deepening  into  black  as  I  looked  into  its 
transparent  depths.  Scarlet  dragon-flies  flitted  about  in  the 
shade  ;  rocks  covered  with  dark-green  weed  looked  out  of 
the  water ;  the  air  was  cool  almost  to  coldness.  It  was  like 
being  dropped  into  a  fairy  grotto,  at  least  so  it  seemed  to  me 
after  grilling  for  days  in  the  sun." 

When  the  Desert  Column  reached  that  oasis,  they  had 
been  on  the  march  for  sixty-four  hours,  with  no  more  than 
four  hours'  consecutive  sleep.  The  time  as  recorded  by 
Count  Gleichen  was  "  sixty-four  hours,  thirty-four  hours  on 
the  move  and  thirty  broken  up  into  short  halts."  The 
distance  covered  was  a  little  under  100  miles ;  therefore  the 
camels'  rate  of  marching  averaged  as  nearly  as  may  be  two 
and  three-quarter  miles  an  hour  throughout.  A  camel  walks 
like  clock-work,  and  if  he  quickens  his  speed  he  keeps  the 
same  length  of  pace,  almost  exactly  one  yard. 

The  Guards'  Battalion,  to  which  were  attached  the  Royal 
Marines,  with  six  Hussars  and  15  Engineers  remained  at 
the  Wells.  The  rest  of  the  Column  left  Jakdul  at  dusk  of 
the  day  upon  which  they  had  arrived,  to  return  to  Korti, 
bivouacking  that  night  in  the  desert. 

The  detachment  at  Jakdul  made  roads,  built  forts,  and 
laid  out  the  camp  for  the  returning  Column.  On  nth 


250     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

January,  a  convoy  of  1000  camels  carrying  stores  and 
ammunition,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Stanley  Clarke, 
arrived  at  Jakdul. 

In  the  meantime,  on  3ist  December,  the  day  after  which 
the  Desert  Column  had  started  for  the  first  time,  Lord 
Wolseley  had  received  a  written  message  from  Gordon, 
"  Khartoum  all  right,"  dated  I4th  December.  Should  it 
be  captured,  the  message  was  intended  to  deceive  the  captor. 
The  messenger  delivered  verbal  information  of  a  different 
tenure,  to  the  effect  that  Gordon  was  hard  pressed  and  that 
provisions  were  becoming  very  scarce. 

At  the  time  of  the  starting  of  the  Desert  Column  upon 
its  second  march,  when  it  was  accompanied  by  the  first 
division  of  the  Naval  Brigade  under  the  command  of  Lord 
Charles  Beresford,  and  by  other  reinforcements,  the  general 
situation  was  briefly  as  follows. 

The  River  Column,  which  was  intended  to  clear  the 
country  along  the  Nile,  to  occupy  Berber,  and  thence  to  join 
the  Desert  Column  at  Metemmeh,  was  assembling  at  Hamdab, 
52  miles  above  Korti.  It  was  commanded  by  General  Earle. 
The  four  steamers  sent  down  the  river  from  Khartoum  by 
General  Gordon  in  October,  were  at  Nasri  Island,  below  the 
Shabloka  Cataract,  half-way  between  Khartoum  and 
Metemmeh,  which  are  98  miles  apart.  Korti  and  Berber,  as 
a  glance  at  the  map  will  show,  occupy  respectively  the  left 
and  right  corners  of  the  base  of  an  inverted  pyramid,  of 
which  Metemmeh  is  the  apex,  while  Khartoum  may  be  figured 
as  at  the  end  of  a  line  98  miles  long  depending  from  the 
apex.  The  Desert  Column  traversed  one  side  of  the  triangle, 
from  Korti  to  Metemmeh ;  the  River  Column  was  intended 
to  traverse  the  other  two  sides. 


THE    NILE 

from  HVady 


England  on  same 
comparison 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE   SOUDAN   WAR  (Continued} 

V.  THE  DESERT  MARCH  OF  THE  FORLORN  HOPE 

"  When  years  ago  I  'listed,  lads, 
To  serve  our  Gracious  Queen, 
The  sergeant  made  me  understand 

I  was  a  'Royal  Marine.' 
He  said  we  sometimes  served  in  ships, 

And  sometimes  on  the  shore ; 
But  did  not  say  I  should  wear  spurs, 

Or  be  in  the  Camel  Corps." 
Songs  of  the  Camel  Corps  (Sergt.  H.  EAGLE,  R.M.C.C.) 

KORTI  was  a  city  of  tents  arrayed  amid  groves  of 
fronded  palm  overhanging  the  broad  river;  beyond, 
the  illimitable  coloured  spaces  of  the  desert,  barred 
with  plains  of  tawny  grass  set  with  mimosa,  and  green  fields 
of  dkura,  and  merging  into  the  far  rose-hued  hills.  All  day 
long  the  strong  sun  smote  upon  its  yellow  avenues,  and  the 
bugles  called,  and  the  north  wind,  steady  and  cool,  blew  the 
boats  up  the  river,  and  the  men,  ragged  and  cheery  and 
tanned  saddle-colour,  came  marching  in  and  were  absorbed 
into  the  great  armed  camp.  Thence  were  to  spring  two 
long  arms  of  fighting  men,  one  to  encircle  the  river,  the 
other  to  reach  across  the  desert,  strike  at  Khartoum  and 
save  Gordon. 

The  day  after  I  arrived  at  Korti,  5th  January,  1885,  the 
desert  arm  had  bent  back  to  obtain  reinforcements ;  because 
there  were  not  enough  camels  to  furnish  transport  for  the 
first  march. 


252     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  first  division  of  the  Naval  Brigade,  under  Lieu- 
tenant Alfred  Pigott,  also  arrived  on  the  5th.  Officers  and 
men  alike  were  covered  with  little  black  pustules,  due  to  the 
poison  carried  by  the  flies.  Nevertheless,  they  were  fit  and 
well  and  all  a-taunto.  They  were  brigaded  under  my  com- 
mand with  Sir  Herbert  Stewart's  Desert  Column.  The  in- 
tention was  that  Gordon's  steamers,  then  waiting  for  us 
somewhere  between  Metemmeh  and  Khartoum,  should  be 
manned  with  the  sailors  and  a  detachment  of  infantry,  and 
should  take  Sir  Charles  Wilson  up  to  Khartoum.  The 
second  division  of  the  Naval  Brigade  was  still  on  its  way 
up.  It  eventually  joined  us  at  Gubat.  I  may  here  say,  for 
the  sake  of  clearness,  that  Gubat  is  close  to  Metemmeh  and 
that  Shendi  lies  on  the  farther,  or  east,  bank  of  the  Nile, 
so  that  Gubat,  Metemmeh  and  Shendi  were  really  all  within 
the  area  of  the  rendezvous  at  which  the  River  Column  under 
General  Earle  was  intended  to  join  forces  with  the  Desert 
Column. 

Sir  Herbert  Stewart  arrived  at  Korti  on  the  5th  and  left 
that  place  on  the  8th,  the  intervening  days  being  occupied 
in  preparations.  An  essential  part  of  my  own  arrangements 
consisted  in  obtaining  spare  boiler-plates,  rivets,  oakum, 
lubricating  oil,  and  engineers'  stores  generally,  as  I  foresaw 
that  these  would  be  needed  for  the  steamers,  which  had 
already  been  knocking  about  the  Nile  in  a  hostile  country 
for  some  three  months.  At  first,  Sir  Redvers  Buller  refused 
to  let  me  have  either  the  stores  or  the  camels  upon  which  to 
carry  them.  He  was  most  good-natured  and  sympathetic, 
but  he  did  not  immediately  perceive  the  necessity. 

"  What  do  you  want  boiler-plates  for  ?  "  he  said.  "  Are 
you  going  to  mend  the  camels  with  them  ?  " 

But  he  let  me  have  what  I  wanted.  (I  did  mend  the 
camels  with  oakum.)  With  other  stores,  I  took  eight  boiler- 
plates, and  a  quantity  of  rivets.  One  of  those  plates,  and  a 
couple  of  dozen  of  those  rivets,  saved  the  Column. 

The  Gardner  gun  of  the  Naval  Brigade  was  carried  in 
pieces  on  four  camels.  Number  one  carried  the  barrels, 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5 


253 


number  two  training  and  elevating  gear  and  wheels,  number 
three  the  trail,  number  four,  four  boxes  of  hoppers.  The 
limber  was  abolished  for  the  sake  of  handiness.  The  gun 
was  unloaded,  mounted,  feed-plate  full,  and  ready  to  march 
in  under  four  minutes.  When  marching  with  the  gun,  the 
men  hauled  it  with  drag-ropes,  muzzle  first,  the  trail  being 
lifted  and  carried  upon  a  light  pole.  Upon  going  into  action 
the  trail  was  dropped  and  the  gun  was  ready,  all  the  con- 
fusion and  delay  caused  by  unlimbering  in  a  crowded  space 
being  thus  avoided. 

At  midday  the  8th  January,  the  Desert  Column  paraded 
for  its  second  and  final  march,  behind  the  village  of  Korti, 
and  was  inspected  by  Lord  Wolseley.  The  same  thought 
inspired  every  officer  and  man :  we  are  getting  to  the  real 
business  at  last. 

The  Desert  Column,  quoting  from  the  figures  given  in 
Sir  Charles  Wilson's  excellent  work,  From  Korti  to  Khartoum, 
was  composed  as  follows : 


Staff 

Naval  Brigade 

igth  Hussars 

Heavy  Camel  Regiment 

M.  I.  Camel  Regiment 

Royal  Artillery       . 

Royal  Sussex  Regiment 

Essex  Regiment     . 

Commissariat  and  Transport 

Medical  Staff 


N.-C.  Officers 

Officers 

and  Men 

8 

6 

5 

53 

9 

121 

24 

376 

21 

336 

4 

39 

16 

401 

3 

55 

5 

72 

3 

5° 

98 


1509 


And  four  guns  (one  Gardner,  three  /-pr.  screw  guns),  304 
natives,  2228  camels,  and  155  horses.  Already  there  were 
along  the  route  at  the  wells  of  Howeiyat  (left  on  the 
first  march),  33  officers  and  men  of  the  M.  I.  Camel 
Regiment  and  33  camels;  and  at  Jakdul,  422  officers  and 
men  of  the  Guards'  Camel  Regiment  (including  Royal 
Marines),  Royal  Engineers,  and  Medical  Staff,  and  20  camels. 


254     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  Desert  Column  picked  up  these  detachments  as  it 
went  along,  leaving  others  in  their  places. 

The  Column  rode  off  at  2  o'clock  p.m.  amid  a  chorus 
of  good  wishes  from  our  comrades.  I  rode  my  white  donkey, 
County  Waterford,  which  had  been  sent  up  to  Korti  by  boat. 
We  marched  ten  miles ;  halted  at  sunset  and  bivouacked, 
and  started  again  half  an  hour  after  midnight.  The  moon 
rode  high,  and  it  was  very  cold ;  but  the  cold  was  invigor- 
ating ;  and  the  hard  gravel  or  sand  of  the  track  made  good 
going.  Desert  marching  with  camels  demands  perpetual 
attention  ;  the  loads  slip  on  the  camels  and  must  be  adjusted  ; 
a  native  driver  unships  the  load  and  drops  it  to  save  himself 
trouble ;  camels  stray  or  break  loose.  By  means  of  perpetual 
driving,  the  unwieldy  herd  creeps  forward  with  noiseless 
footsteps,  at  something  under  three  miles  an  hour. 

Although  the  camels  were  so  numerous,  their  numbers 
had  been  reduced  to  the  bare  requirements  of  that  small 
mobile  column,  which  alone  could  hope  to  achieve  the 
enterprise. 

At  10  o'clock  a.m.  on  the  pth,  we  halted  for  four  hours 
in  a  valley  of  grass  and  mimosa  trees ;  marched  till  sunset 
and  came  to  another  grassy  valley  and  bivouacked.  On 
the  loth  we  started  before  daylight,  and  reached  the  wells 
oC  El  Howeiyat  at  noon,  very  thirsty,  and  drank  muddy 
water  and  breakfasted  ;  marched  on  until  long  after  dark, 
over  rough  ground,  the  men  very  thirsty,  the  camels  slipping 
and  falling  all  over  the  place,  and  at  length  bivouacked. 
Starting  again  before  daylight  on  the  nth,  we  came  to  the 
wooded  valley  set  among  granite  hills,  where  are  the  wells 
of  Abu  Haifa,  men  and  animals  suffering  greatly  from  thirst. 
The  wells  consisted  of  a  muddy  pond  and  a  few  small  pools 
of  bitter  water.  More  holes  were  dug,  and  the  watering 
went  on  all  the  afternoon  and  all  night. 

Next  morning,  I2th  January,  we  loaded  up  at  daylight, 
and  marched  across  the  plain  lying  beneath  the  range  of 
yellow  hills,  broken  by  black  rocks,  called  Jebel  Jelif ;  entered 
a  grassy  and  wide  valley,  ending  in  a  wall  of  rock ;  turned 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  255 

the  corner  of  the  wall,  and  came  into  a  narrower  valley,  full 
of  large  round  stones,  and  closed  in  at  the  upper  end  by 
precipices,  riven  into  clefts,  within  which  were  the  pools  of 
Jakdul.  We  beheld  roads  cleared  of  stones,  and  the  sign- 
boards of  a  camp,  and  the  forts  of  the  garrison,  and  stone 
walls  crowning  the  hills,  one  high  on  the  left,  two  high  on 
the  right  hand.  In  ten  days  the  little  detachment  of  Guards, 
Royal  Marines  and  Engineers  under  Major  Dorward,  R.E., 
had  performed  an  incredible  amount  of  work :  road-making, 
wall-building,  laying-out,  canal-digging  and  reservoir-making. 
All  was  ready  for  Sir  Herbert  Stewart's  force,  which  took  up 
its  quarters  at  once. 

That  evening  the  Guards  gave  an  excellent  dinner  to  the 
Staff,  substituting  fresh  gazelle  and  sand-grouse  for  bully- 
beef.  All  night  the  men  were  drawing  water  from  the  upper 
pool  of  the  wells,  in  which  was  the  best  water,  by  the  light 
of  lanterns. 

The  next  day,  I3th  January,  all  were  hard  at  work 
watering  the  camels  and  preparing  for  the  advance  on  the 
morrow.  The  camels  were  already  suffering  severely :  some 
thirty  had  dropped  dead  on  the  way ;  and  owing  to  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  enough  animals  to  carry  the 
requisite  grain,  they  were  growing  thin.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  whole  progress  of  the  expedition  depended  upon 
camels  as  the  sole  means  of  transport. 

When  a  camel  falls  from  exhaustion,  it  rolls  over  upon 
its  side,  and  is  unable  to  rise.  But  it  is  not  going  to  die 
unless  it  stretches  its  head  back ;  and  it  has  still  a  store  of 
latent  energy ;  for  a  beast  will  seldom  of  its  own  accord  go 
on  to  the  last.  It  may  sound  cruel ;  but  in  that  expedition 
it  was  a  case  of  a  man's  life  or  a  camel's  suffering.  When 
I  came  across  a  fallen  camel,  I  had  it  hove  upright  with  a 
gun-pole,  loaded  men  upon  it,  and  so  got  them  over  another 
thirty  or  forty  miles.  By  the  exercise  of  care  and  fore- 
thought, I  succeeded  in  bringing  back  from  the  expedition 
more  camels,  in  the  proportion  of  those  in  my  control,  than 
others,  much  to  the  interest  of  my  old  friend  Sir  Redvers 


256     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Buller.  He  asked  me  how  it  was  done;  and  I  told  him 
that  I  superintended  the  feeding  of  the  camels  myself.  If 
a  camel  was  exhausted,  I  treated  it  as  I  would  treat  a  tired 
hunter,  which,  after  a  long  day,  refuses  its  food.  I  gave  the 
exhausted  camels  food  by  handfuls,  putting  them  upon  a 
piece  of  cloth  or  canvas,  instead  of  throwing  the  whole  ration 
upon  the  ground  at  once. 

Major  Kitchener  (now  Lord  Kitchener  of  Khartoum), 
who  was  dwelling  in  a  cave  in  the  hillside,  reported  that 
Khashm-el-Mus  Bey,  Malik  (King)  of  the  Shagiyeh  tribe, 
was  at  Shendi  with  three  of  Gordon's  steamers.  (He  was 
actually  at  Nasri  Island.)  Lieutenant  E.  J.  Montagu-Stuart- 
Wortley,  King's  Royal  Rifles,  joined  the  column  for  service 
with  Sir  Charles  Wilson  in  Khartoum.  Little  did  we  antici- 
pate in  what  his  plucky  service  would  consist.  Colonel 
Burnaby  came  in  with  a  supply  of  grain,  most  of  which  was 
left  at  Jakdul,  as  the  camels  which  had  brought  it  were 
needed  to  carry  stores  for  the  Column.  There  were  800 
Commissariat  camels,  carrying  provisions  for  1500  men  for 
a  month,  the  first  instalment  of  the  depot  it  was  intended  to 
form  at  Metemmeh,  as  the  base  camp  from  which  to  advance 
upon  Khartoum. 

With  Burnaby  came  Captain  Gascoigne,  who  had  special 
knowledge  of  the  Eastern  Soudan,  and  who  afterwards  went 
up  to  Khartoum  with  Sir  Charles  Wilson. 

The  Column  left  Jakdul  at  2  o'clock  p.m.  on  I4th 
January,  and  marched  for  three  hours.  It  was  generally 
supposed  that  we  might  be  attacked  between  Jakdul  and 
Metemmeh,  a  distance  of  between  70  and  80  miles ;  although 
the  only  intelligence  we  had  was  Major  Kitchener's  report 
that  3000  men  under  the  Mahdi's  Emir  were  at  Metemmeh. 
We  did  not  know  that  the  occupation  of  Jakdul  by  Sir 
Herbert  Stewart  on  the  2nd  of  January,  had  moved  the 
Mahdi  to  determine  upon  the  destruction  of  the  Desert 
Column  between  Jakdul  and  Metemmeh.  The  news  of  the 
occupation  of  Jakdul  had  travelled  with  extraordinary 
swiftness.  It  was  known  on  the  4th  January,  or  two 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  257 

days  after  the  event,  in  Berber,  nearly  90  miles  from  Jakdul 
as  the  crow  flies;  and  on  that  day  the  Emir  of  Berber 
dispatched  his  men  to  reinforce  the  Emir  of  Metemmeh. 
If  the  news  were  known  in  Berber  and  Metemmeh 
it  must  have  run  through  the  whole  surrounding  area  of 
desert.  The  ten  days  occupied  by  the  Column  in  returning 
to  Korti  and  returning  again  to  Jakdul,  gave  the  enemy  the 
time  they  needed  to  concentrate  in  front  of  us.  Moreover, 
Omdurman  had  fallen  during  the  second  week  in  January, 
setting  free  a  number  of  the  Mahdi's  soldiers.  But  of  these 
things  we  were  ignorant  when  we  pushed  out  of  Jakdul. 
We  picked  up  a  Remington  rifle,  and  saw  some  horse-tracks, 
and  that  was  all. 

During  the  second  night  out  from  Jakdul  (the  I5th-i6th) 
the  camels  were  knee-lashed  and  dispositions  were  made  in 
case  of  attack,  but  nothing  happened.  It  was  the  last  night's 
rest  we  were  to  have  for  some  time. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i6th  we  started  as  usual  in  the 
dark.  When  the  light  came,  we  saw  the  hills  of  Abu  Klea 
in  the  distance,  and  after  marching  nearly  to  them,  halted 
for  breakfast,  In  the  meantime  Lieutenant-Colonel  Barrow, 
with  his  squadron  of  the  ipth  Hussars,  had  gone  ahead 
to  occupy  the  wells  of  Abu  Klea.  About  n  a.m.  Barrow 
returned  to  report  that  there  was  a  large  force  of  the  enemy 
between  us  and  the  wells.  The  column  was  then  lying  in 
a  shallow  valley,  whence  the  track  led  uphill  over  rough 
ground  towards  a  pass  cleft  in  the  range  of  hills,  beyond 
which  were  the  wells. 

The  Column  fell  in  and  mounted  at  once.  Through 
glasses  we  could  clearly  distinguish  innumerable  white- 
robed  figures  of  Arabs,  relieved  upon  the  black  cliffs 
dominating  the  pass,  leaping  and  gesticulating.  Here  and 
there  were  puffs  of  smoke,  followed  after  an  interval  by 
a  faint  report;  but  the  range  was  too  far,  and  no  bullet 
arrived.  Nearer  hand,  were  swiftly  jerking  the  isolated 
flags  of  the  signallers,  communicating  from  the  advanced 
scouts  to  the  main  body.  The  Naval  Brigade  with  the 
VOL.  i. — 17 


258     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

Mounted  Infantry,  which  were  on  the  left  of  the  Column, 
were  ordered  to  ascend  the  hill  on  the  left  of  the  line  of 
advance,  to  guard  the  flank  of  the  Column. 

We  dragged  up  the  Gardner  gun,  placed  it  in  position, 
and  built  a  breastwork  of  loose  stones.  By  the  time  we  had 
finished,  it  was  about  4  o'clock.  Beyond  and  beneath  us, 
a  line  of  green  and  white  flags  was  strung  across  the  valley, 
fluttering  above  the  scrub,  and  these,  with  a  large  tent, 
denoted  the  headquarters  of  the  enemy. 

.  The  rest  of  the  Column  were  hurriedly  building  a  zeriba 
in  the  valley.  As  the  twilight  fell,  a  party  of  the  enemy 
crept  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  on  the  right  flank,  opposite 
to  our  fort,  and  dropped  bullets  at  long  range  into  the 
Column  below,  which  replied  with  a  couple  of  screw  guns. 
As  the  darkness  thickened,  there  arose  that  maddening 
noise  of  torn-tons,  whose  hollow  and  menacing  beat,  end- 
lessly and  pitilessly  repeated,  haunts  those  who  have  heard 
it  to  the  last  day  of  their  lives.  Swelling  and  falling,  it 
sounds  now  hard  at  hand,  and  again  far  away.  That  night, 
we  lay  behind  the  breastwork,  sleepless  and  very  cold ;  and 
the  deadly  throbbing  of  the  drums  filled  the  air,  mingled 
with  the  murmur  of  many  voices  and  the  rustle  as  of  many 
feet,  and  punctuated  with  the  sullen  crack  of  rifles,  now 
firing  singly,  now  in  a  volley,  and  the  whine  of  bullets.  At 
intervals,  thinking  the  enemy  were  upon  us,  we  stood  to 
arms. 

When  at  last  the  day  broke,  there  were  thousands  of 
white-robed  figures  clustering  nearer  upon  the  hills,  and  the 
bullets  thickened,  so  that,  chilled  as  we  were,  rather  than 
attempt  to  warm  ourselves  by  exercise  we  were  fain  to 
lie  behind  the  breastwork.  The  Naval  Brigade  had  no 
casualties. 

Our  detachment  was  speedily  called  in,  so  that  we  had 
no  time  for  breakfast,  which  was  being  hastily  eaten  under 
fire  by  the  rest  of  the  Column.  All  we  had  was  a  biscuit 
and  a  drink  of  water.  We  took  up  our  position  on  the  right 
front.  Sir  Herbert  Stewart  waited  for  a  time  in  case  the 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  259 

enemy  should  attack.  Major  Gough,  commanding  the 
Mounted  Infantry,  was  knocked  senseless  by  a  bullet  graze ; 
Major  Dickson  of  the  Royals  was  shot  through  the  knee ; 
Lieutenant  Lyall  of  the  Royal  Artillery  was  hit  in  the  back. 

Sir  Herbert  Stewart  and  Colonel  Burnaby  were  riding 
about  on  high  ground,  a  mark  for  the  enemy.  I  saw  the 
general's  bugler  drop  close  beside  him,  and  running  up, 
implored  both  him  and  Burnaby  to  dismount,  but  they  would 
not.  I  had  hardly  returned  to  my  place  when  I  heard 
another  bullet  strike,  and  saw  Burnaby's  hoise  fall,  throwing 
its  rider.  I  went  to  help  Burnaby  to  his  feet,  and  as  I  picked 
him  up,  he  said  a  curious  thing.  He  said,  "  I'm  not  in  luck 
to-day,  Charlie." 

When  it  became  evident  that  the  enemy  would  not 
attack,  Sir  Herbert  Stewart  decided  to  take  the  initiative. 
He  ordered  a  square  to  be  formed  outside  the  zeriba,  in 
which  the  baggage  and  the  camels  were  to  be  left  in  charge 
of  a  small  garrison. 

In  the  centre  of  the  square  were  to  be  camels,  carrying 
water,  ammunition,  and  cacolets  (litters)  for  the  wounded. 
I  do  not  know  how  many  camels  there  were.  Count 
Gleichen  says  about  30;  Colonel  Colville,  in  the  official 
history,  gives  the  figure  as  1 50.  In  the  front  of  the  square 
(looking  from  the  rear  of  the  square  forward),  left,  and 
nearly  all  down  the  left  flank,  were  Mounted  Infantry ;  on 
the  right  front,  and  half-way  down  the  right  flank,  Guards' 
Camel  Regiment.  Beginning  on  the  left  flank  where 
Mounted  Infantry  ended,  and  continuing  round  the  rear 
face,  were  the  Heavy  Camel  Regiment.  Then,  in  the  centre 
of  the  rear,  was  the  Naval  Brigade  with  Gardner  gun.  On 
the  right  of  rear  face,  the  Heavy  Camel  Regiment  extended 
to  the  angle.  Round  the  corner,  lower  right  flank,  were  the 
Royal  Sussex,  then  came  the  Royal  Marines,  continuing  to 
the  Guards'  Camel  Regiment.  Behind  the  centre  of  the  front 
ranks  were  the  three  screw  guns.  In  case  of  attack,  I  was 
directed  to  use  my  own  judgment  as  to  placing  the  Gardner 
gun. 


260     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

The  square  was  thus  formed  under  fire.  Bear  in  mind 
that  the  column  was  upon  the  floor  of  a  valley  commanded 
by  slopes  and  hill-tops  occupied  by  the  enemy.  The  route 
of  the  square  lay  over  the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills  on  the 
right,  thus  avoiding  the  hollow  way  on  the  left  commanded 
by  the  enemy's  breastworks.  Captain  Campbell's  company 
of  Mounted  Infantry,  and  Colonel  Barrow  with  his  Hussars, 
went  ahead  to  skirmish  on  the  front  and  on  the  left  flank, 
and  somewhat  checked  the  fire,  while  Lieutenant  Rom  illy 
and  a  detachment  of  Scots  Guards  skirmished  ahead  on  the 
right. 

It  was  about  10  a.m.  when  the  square  began  to  move. 
The  enemy,  increasing  their  fire,  kept  pace  with  it.  The 
route,  studded  with  rocky  knolls,  furrowed  with  watercourses, 
and  sharply  rising  and  falling,  was  almost  impassable  for  the 
camels.  They  lagged  behind,  slipping  and  falling,  and  we 
of  the  rear  face  were  all  tangled  up  with  a  grunting,  squealing, 
reeking  mass  of  struggling  animals.  Their  drivers,  terrified 
by  the  murderous  fire  coming  from  the  right,  were  pressing 
back  towards  the  left  rear  angle.  By  dint  of  the  most 
splendid  exertions,  the  sailors  kept  up,  dragging  the  Gardner 
gun.  Men  were  dropping,  and  halts  must  be  made  while 
they  were  hoisted  into  the  cacolets  and  their  camels  forced 
into  the  square.  Surgeon  J.  Magill,  attending  a  wounded 
skirmisher  outside  the  square,  was  hit  in  the  leg.  During 
the  halts  the  enemy's  fire  was  returned,  driving  off  large 
numbers  on  the  hills  to  the  right.  In  about  an  hour  we 
covered  two  miles. 

Then  we  saw,  on  the  left  front,  about  600  yards  away,  a 
line  of  green  and  white  flags  twinkling  on  long  poles  planted 
in  the  grass  and  scrub.  No  one  knew  what  these  might 
portend.  As  the  fire  was  hottest  on  the  right,  we  thought 
that  the  main  body  would  attack  from  that  quarter. 
Suddenly,  as  we  halted,  more  and  yet  more  flags  flashed 
above  the  green ;  and  the  next  moment  the  valley  was 
alive  with  black  and  white  figures,  and  resounding  with  their 
cries.  The  whole  body  of  them  moved  swiftly  and  in 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  261 

perfect   order  across   our    left   front,   disappearing    behind 
rocks  and  herbage. 

The  square  was  instantly  moved  forward  some  thirty 
yards  on  the  slope,  in  order  to  gain  a  better  position.  Ere 
the  movement  was  completed,  the  enemy  reappeared. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 
THE   SOUDAN   WAR  (Continued] 
VI.  THE  FIGHT  AT  ABU  KLEA 

"  England  well  may  speak  with  wonder 

Of  the  small  heroic  band, 
Fearlessly,  though  parched  and  weary, 

Toiling  'cross  the  desert  sand  ; 
How  they  met  the  foeman's  onslaught, 

Firm,  undaunted,  with  a  cheer, 
Drove  ten  times  or  more  their  number, 

Down  the  vale  of  Abu  Klea." 
Songs  of  the  Camel  Corps  (Serg.  H.  EAGLE,  R.M.C.C.) 

BEFORE  the  square  was  completely  formed   on   the 
top  of  the  knoll  at  the   foot   of  which   it  had   been 
halted  when  the  thousands  of  Arabs  sprang  into  view 
on  the  left  front,  the  Arabs  reappeared  on  the  left  rear,  about 
500  yards  distant.     They  were  formed  into  three  phalanxes 
joined  together,  the  points  of  the  three  wedges  being  headed 
by  emirs  or  sheikhs,  riding  with  banners.     The  horsemen 
came  on  at  a  hand-gallop,  the  masses  of  footmen  keeping 
up  with  them.     Our  skirmishers  were   racing   in  for  their 
lives.     The  last  man  was  overtaken  and  speared. 

At  this  moment  the  left  rear  angle  of  the  square  was 
still  unformed.  The  camels  were  still  struggling  into  it. 
Several  camels,  laden  with  wounded,  had  lain  down  at  the 
foot  of  the  slope  and  their  drivers  had  fled  into  the  square ; 
and  these  animals  were  being  dragged  in  by  soldiers.  The 
appalling  danger  of  this  open  corner  was  instantly  evident. 
I  told  the  bugler  to  sound  the  halt,  and  having  forced 
my  way  through  the  press  to  the  front  of  the  square, 
and  reported  the  case  to  Sir  Herbert  Stewart,  who  said, 

"  Quite  right,"  I  struggled  back  to  the  rear. 

362 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  263 

Then  I  ordered  the  crew  of  the  Gardner  gun  to  run  it 
outside  the  square  to  the  left  flank.  At  the  same  time, 
Colonel  Burnaby  wheeled  Number  3  Company  (4th  and  5th 
Dragoon  Guards)  from  the  rear  face  to  the  left  flank. 
Number  4  Company  (Scots  Greys  and  Royals)  had  already 
wheeled  from  the  rear  to  the  left  flank,  so  that  they  were 
just  behind  me.  Five  or  six  paces  outside  the  square  we 
dropped  the  trail  of  the  gun.  So  swiftly  did  these  things 
happen  that  the  leading  ranks  of  the  enemy  were  still  400 
yards  away. 

They  were  tearing  down  upon  us  with  a  roar  like  the 
roar  of  the  sea,  an  immense  surging  wave  of  white-slashed 
black  forms  brandishing  bright  spears  and  long  flashing 
swords;  and  all  were  chanting,  as  they  leaped  and  ran, 
the  war-song  of  their  faith,  "  La  ilaha  UP  Allah  Mohammedu 
rasul  Allah " ;  and  the  terrible  rain  of  bullets  poured  into 
them  by  the  Mounted  Infantry  and  the  Guards  stayed  them 
not.  They  wore  the  loose  white  robe  of  the  Mahdi's 
uniform,  looped  over  the  left  shoulder,  and  the  straw  skull- 
cap. These  things  we  heard  and  saw  in  a  flash,  as  the 
formidable  wave  swept  steadily  nearer. 

I  laid  the  Gardner  gun  myself  to  make  sure.  As  I  fired,  I 
saw  the  enemy  mown  down  in  rows,  dropping  like  ninepins  ; 
but  as  the  men  killed  were  in  rear  of  the  front  rank,  after 
firi.ig  about  forty  rounds  (eight  turns  of  the  lever),  I  lowered 
the  elevation.  I  was  putting  in  most  effective  work  on  the 
leading  ranks  and  had  fired  about  thirty  rounds  when  the 
gun  jammed.  The  extraction  had  pulled  the  head  from  a 
discharged  cartridge,  leaving  the  empty  cylinder  in  the 
barrel.  William  Rhodes,  chief  boatswain's  mate,  and 
myself  immediately  set  to  work  to  unscrew  the  feed-plate 
in  order  to  clear  the  barrel  or  to  take  out  its  lock.  The 
next  moment  the  enemy  were  on  top  of  us.  The  feed-plate 
dropped  on  my  head,  knocking  me  under  the  gun  and 
across  its  trail.  Simultaneously  a  spear  was  thrust  right 
through  poor  Rhodes,  who  was  instantly  killed  at  my  side. 
Walter  Miller  the  armourer  was  speared  beside  the  gun 
at  the  same  time.  I  was  knocked  off  the  trail  of  the  gun 


264     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

by  a  blow  with  the  handle  of  an  axe,  the  blade  of  which 
missed  me.  An  Arab  thrust  at  me  with  his  spear,  and  I 
caught  the  blade,  cutting  my  hand,  and  before  he  could 
recover  his  weapon  a  bullet  dropped  him.  Struggling 
to  my  feet,  I  was  carried  bodily  backwards  by  the 
tremendous  impact  of  the  rush,  right  back  upon  the  front 
rank  of  the  men  of  Number  4  Company,  who  stood  like 
rocks. 

I  can  compare  the  press  to  nothing  but  the  crush  of 
a  theatre  crowd  alarmed  by  a  cry  of  fire.  Immediately 
facing  me  was  an  Arab  holding  a  spear  over  his  head,  the 
staff  of  the  weapon  being  jammed  against  his  back  by  the 
pressure  behind  him.  I  could  draw  neither  sword  nor  pistol. 
The  front  ranks  of  our  men  could  not  use  rifle  or  bayonet 
for  a  few  moments.  But  the  pressure,  forcing  our  men 
backwards  up  the  hill,  presently  enabled  the  rear  rank, 
now  occupying  a  position  of  a  few  inches  higher  than  the 
enemy,  to  fire  over  the  heads  of  the  front  rank  right  into 
the  mass  of  the  Arabs.  The  bullets  whizzed  close  by  my 
head ;  and  one  passed  through  my  helmet.  The  Arabs 
fell  in  heaps,  whereupon  our  front  rank,  the  pressure  upon 
them  relaxing,  fired,  and  fought  hand  to  hand  with  the 
bayonet,  cursing  as  the  rifles  jammed  and  the  shoddy 
bayonets  twisted  like  tin. 

The  enemy  wavered  and  broke  away,  some  retreating, 
but  the  greater  number  turning  to  the  rear  face  of  the 
square,  carrying  some  of  the  Naval  Brigade  with  them. 
The  rest  of  my  men  manned  the  gun  and  opened  fire  on 
the  retreating  enemy.  But  by  the  time  the  gun  was  in 
action  the  retreating  dervishes  had  hidden  themselves  in  a 
nullah,  and  the  main  body  of  the  enemy  had  burst  into  the 
gap  left  by  the  camels  in  the  rear  face.  My  men  joined  in 
the  furious  hand-to-hand  fighting  all  among  the  jam  of  men 
and  camels.  The  ranks  of  the  front  face  of  the  square 
had  turned  about  face  and  were  firing  inwards.  Poor 
Burnaby  (who  was  "  not  in  luck  to-day  ")  was  thrown  from 
his  horse,  and  was  killed  by  a  sword  cut  in  the  neck  as  he 
lay  on  the  ground. 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  265 

Fighting  next  to  me  in  the  square  was  "  Bloody-minded 
Piggot" — Captain  C.  P.  Piggot  of  the  2ist  Hussars — using 
a  shot-gun  charged  with  buck-shot.  The  Arabs  were 
crawling  and  twisting  under  the  camels  and  in  and  out 
the  legs  of  the  men,  whom  they  tried  to  stab  in  the  back, 
and  Piggot  was  loading  and  firing,  and  the  bluejackets 
kept  calling  to  him,  "  Here's  another  joker,  sir ! "  I  saw 
the  bald  head  of  an  Arab  emerging  from  a  pile  of  bodies, 
and  as  Piggot  fired  I  saw  the  bald  crown  riddled  like  the 
rose  of  a  watering-pot. 

One  mounted  sheikh,  at  least,  won  right  into  the  square, 
where  the  bodies  of  himself  and  his  horse  were  found 
afterwards. 

Numbers  4  and  5  Company,  who  had  withstood  the 
first  rush  until  they  were  pressed  back  upon  the  mass  of 
camels,  were  still  fighting  in  front  when  they  were  attacked 
in  rear.  There,  the  left  wing  of  the  Heavy  Camel  Regiment 
— Scots  Greys,  Royals,  and  5th  Dragoon  Guards — did 
desperate  hand-to-hand  fighting  in  the  square,  while  the 
right  wing  and  the  Royal  Sussex  by  their  steady  fire  kept 
off  the  rest  of  the  enemy.  The  stress  endured  only  a  few 
minutes.  Every  Arab  inside  the  square  was  slain.  The 
camels,  which  had  made  the  weak  corner  of  the  square, 
afterwards  saved  it  by  presenting  a  solid,  irremovable 
obstacle  to  the  enemy. 

As  the  enemy  retired,  Sir  Herbert  Stewart  gave  the 
word,  and  our  men  cheered  again  and  again,  and  the  retreat- 
ing Arabs  turned  and  shook  their  fists  at  us. 

Their  desperate  courage  was  marvellous.  I  saw  a  boy 
of  some  twelve  years  of  age,  who  had  been  shot  through  the 
stomach,  walk  slowly  up  through  a  storm  of  bullets  and 
thrust  his  spear  at  one  of  our  men.  I  saw  several  Arabs 
writhe  from  out  a  pile  of  dead  and  wounded,  and  charge 
some  eighty  yards  under  fire  towards  us,  and  one  of  them 
ran  right  up  to  the  bayonets  and  flung  himself  upon  them 
and  was  killed.  I  saw  an  Arab,  who  was  wounded  in  the 
legs,  sit  up,  and  hurl  his  spear  at  a  passing  soldier.  As 
the  soldier  stopped  to  load  his  rifle,  the  Arab  tried  to 


266     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

reach  another  spear,  and  failing,  caught  up  stones  and 
cast  them  at  his  foe ;  and  then,  when  the  soldier  pre- 
sented his  rifle  and  took  a  deliberate  aim,  the  Arab  sat 
perfectly  still  looking  down  the  barrel,  till  the  bullet 
killed  him. 

Surgeon-General  Sir  Arthur  W.  May  tells  me  of  an 
instance  of  the  spirit  of  the  men.  A  huge  able  seaman, 
nicknamed  Jumbo,  who  was  one  of  the  gun's  crew  when  it 
was  run  outside  the  square,  was  thrown  upon  his  face  by 
the  charge ;  and  apparently  every  Arab  who  went  past  or 
over  him,  had  a  dig  at  the  prostrate  seaman. 

After  the  action,  with  the  help  of  able  seaman  Laker, 
I  carried  him  to  the  doctor.  He  was  a  mass  of  blood,  which 
soaked  my  tunic.  I  tried  to  wash  it  afterwards  with  sand. 
He  must  have  weighed  about  sixteen  stone.  Quite  recently, 
at  Stornoway,  where  he  is  chief  petty  officer  of  the  Coast- 
guard, I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Laker,  and  we 
recalled  the  salving  of  poor  Jumbo. 

He  had  seventeen  wounds,  spear-thrusts,  and  sword-cuts. 
Upon  visiting  him  in  the  Field  Hospital  a  few  days  later, 
Surgeon  May,  intending  to  console  the  patient,  said  : 

"  You  will  be  able  to  be  sent  back  with  the  next  convoy 
of  wounded,  after  all." 

"  Sent  back  ?  "  returned  Jumbo  indignantly.  "  I  haven't 
done  with  the  beggars  yet ! " 

He  recovered,  but  not  in  time  to  gratify  his  ardour. 

The  square  was  moved  some  50  yards  from  the  field 
of  battle  and  was  formed  anew.  I  went  to  try  to  find 
any  wounded  men  of  my  Brigade.  Having  brought  in  two, 
I  was  starting  for  a  third  time,  when  someone  shouted, 
*'  Look  out,  Charlie ! "  and  I  turned  about  to  see  an  Arab 
charging  at  me  with  a  spear.  I  ran  to  meet  him,  sword  in 
hand,  parried  his  spear,  then  held  my  sword  rigid  at  arm's 
length.  He  ran  right  up  the  blade  to  the  hilt,  against  which 
his  body  struck  with  so  great  force  that  he  fell  backward. 

I  picked  up  a  man  who  was  shot  through  the  back, 
and  put  him  upon  a  camel  upon  which  was  a  wounded 
Arab.  Presently  I  heard  my  man  singing  out;  and  I 


THE  SOUDAN  WAR  OF  1884-5  267 

found  his  thumb  was  being  chewed  off  by  the  Arab, 
whom  I  hauled  off  the  camel  and  of  whom  I  disposed  in 
another  way. 

The  bodies  of  most  of  my  men  who  were  killed  were 
found  some  25  yards  from  the  place  at  which  we  had  worked 
the  gun.  Here  were  the  bodies  of  my  poor  comrades, 
Lieutenants  Alfred  Pigott  and  R.  E.  de  Lisle.  Pigott  had 
been  promoted  to  commander,  but  he  never  knew  it. 
De  Lisle  had  his  whole  face  cut  clean  off.  Captain  C.  P. 
Piggot  (not  to  be  confused  with  the  naval  officer,  Commander 
Alfred  Pigott),  who  fought  like  a  Paladin  in  the  square,  and 
who  knew  not  fear,  died  some  years  afterwards  in  England. 
(I  took  him  on  my  coach  to  Lord's ;  he  was  so  weak  that 
he  could  not  get  upon  it  without  the  help  of  a  footman, 
and  he  looked  dreadfully  ill.  He  told  me  that  the  doctor 
had  given  him  three  weeks  to  live ;  but  he  was  dead  in 
three  days.) 

Eight  of  the  Naval  Brigade  were  killed  and  seven  were 
wounded,  out  of  40  who  went  into  action.  Every  man  of 
the  Brigade  handling  the  gun  outside  the  square  was  killed, 
excepting  myself. 

I  observed  that  the  rows  of  bullets  from  the  Gardner 
gun,  which  was  rifle  calibre  '45-inch,  with  five  barrels,  had 
cut  off  heads  and  tops  of  heads  as  though  sliced  horizontally 
with  a  knife. 

The  official  account  gives  the  loss  of  the  enemy  at  1 100 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  square. 

Nearly  half  the  British  rifles  jammed,  owing  to  the  use  of 
leaf  cartridges.  The  Remington  rifles  used  by  the  Mahdi's 
soldiers  had  solid  drawn  cartridges  which  did  not  jam. 
During  the  action  of  Abu  Klea  the  officers  were  almost 
entirely  employed  in  clearing  jammed  rifles  passed  back  to 
them  by  the  men.  The  British  bayonets  and  cutlasses  bent 
and  twisted,  the  result  of  a  combination  of  knavery  and 
laziness  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  trusted  to  supply  the 
soldier  with  weapons  upon  which  his  life  depends.  The 
bayonets  were  blunt,  because  no  one  had  thought  of 
sharpening  them.  The  spears  of  the  Arabs  were  sharp  like 


268     MEMOIRS  OF  LORD  CHARLES  BERESFORD 

razors.     The  cutlasses  of  the  Naval  Brigade  were  specially 
sharpened. 

I  noticed  that  when  a  soldier  was  killed,  a  bluejacket 
always  endeavoured  to  secure  his  bayonet ;  and  that  when  a 
sailor  was  killed,  a  soldier  always  tried  to  take  his  hat,  pre- 
ferring it  to  the  Army  helmet. 

The  official  report  of  Sir  Charles  Wilson  states  the  total 
number  of  the  enemy  to  have  been  from  9000  to  11,000, 
consisting  of  men  from  Berber,  Metemmeh,  Kordofan,  and 
looo  men  of  the  Mahdi's  army.  Of  the  total  number,  it 
was  estimated  that  5000  or  6000  attacked.  The  British 
numbered  something  over  1200  men;  but,  these  being  in 
square,  the  weight  of  the  attack  fell  upon  no  more  than 
about  300  men.  There  were  342  men  of  the  Royal 
Artillery  on  the  front  face  of  the  square;  235  men  on 
the  left  flank,  reinforced  when  the  charge  came  by 
some  of  the  Naval  Brigade  and  a  company  from  the  rear 
face ;  300  men  and  the  Naval  Brigade,  between  40  and 
50  strong,  on  the  rear  face;  and  307  men  on  the  right 
flank.  The  centre  was  a  solid  mass  of  camels.  This  thin 
framework  of  men,  forced  back  upon  the  camels,  resisted 
the  tremendous  impact  of  thousands  of  frenzied  fanatics 
who  knew  not  fear,  and  whom  nothing  stopped  but 
death. 

I  cannot  better  describe  the  result  than  by  quoting  the 
words  of  Colonel  the  Hon.  Reginald  Talbot,  ist  Life  Guards, 
who  commanded  the  Heavy  Camel  Regiment  at  Abu  Klea 
(Nineteenth  Century,  Jan.  1886): 

"  It  was  an  Inkerman  on  a  small  scale — a  soldiers'  battle ; 
strength,  determination,  steadiness,  and  unflinching  courage 
alone  could  have  stemmed  the  onslaught." 

It  was  a  soldiers'  battle,  because  the  attack  was  sudden ; 
it  came  before  the  square  was  formed ;  and  in  the  stress  and 
tumult  orders  were  useless. 


Printed  by  MORRISON  &  GIBB  LIMITED,  Edinburgh 


DATE  DUE 


